Our tiny island seems to have more than its fair share of talent. The Sunday Times Young Power List has had two editions in the UK, and as the green wave shows no sign of abating, it is high time to recognise the cohort of Irish who are not just excelling in their fields but also wielding influence at home and abroad. Our definition of power goes beyond bank balances and social media followings. This is about the power to think differently, break records and make lives better. To choose our 25 winners — who appear below in no particular order — we called upon the expertise of the wider Sunday Times team and contributors to handpick the list, across sport, business, the arts, technology, entertainment, beauty, fashion and food. Read on to see who made the cut — and tell us what you think.
CMAT, 29
It has been quite a year for Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, otherwise known as CMAT. “I was on this slow-moving steam train,” she told The Sunday Times. “And then a load of fireworks went off in a field beside it. And I was just, like, ‘Oh, that’s great.’”
Thompson had Julia Fox, Amelia Dimoldenberg and thousands more around the globe doing the “Woke Macarena” to her hit Take a Sexy Picture of Me. She took to Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage in a plastic blue dress, addressing topics such as the abhorrent abuse she receives online about her appearance in between two-stepping to her hits. The Meath woman, who was nominated this year for a Mercury prize, became a TikTok and festival favourite.
• CMAT on fame: ‘Does the world just view me as an ugly person?’
It was when her third studio album, Euro-Country, dropped in August that she obtained Irish legend status, solidified with a 20ft mural in her home town of Dunboyne. Then Thompson headed to the US to tour and do the press circuit, including a slot on Jimmy Kimmel Live where she won over an American audience with her camp take on country.
While her UK tour dates had to be postponed due to wisdom tooth surgery, once she’s back on her feet she’ll be right back at it. “I have to make as many albums as I can, as quickly as possible, because this might go away tomorrow,” she says. “That’s the only way I think you actually build an audience — just play until your ass falls out.” Adele Miner
Daryl McCormack, 32
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A decade after his screen debut in the RTE soap Fair City, the 32-year-old actor from Nenagh has made the transition from arthouse fare such as Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022), in which he starred as a sex worker opposite a frisky Emma Thompson, to chasing tornados in the Imax blockbuster Twisters (2024). McCormack is no overnight success but stealthily wooed critics with his performances: sharing the stage with Succession’s Brian Cox in a production of Long Day’s Journey into Night and going toe-to-toe with Ireland’s finest — including Cillian Murphy in Peaky Blinders and Eve Hewson in Bad Sisters.
• Good Luck to You, Leo Grande review
“Breaking into an American market and American films, having interest from American directors, is exciting,” McCormack told The Sunday Times this month. “There are so many film-makers in the US I want to work with. To make splashes in that space is fun. I’ll always want to do independent film and stage work, but to be able to do those bigger commercial films, along with the smaller films and theatre, is exciting. It feels like a full balanced career.”
For his next trick, the 6ft 2in Munster charmer, who was raised by a single mother in Tipperary and has US-Irish dual citizenship, joins a top-tier cast in the Netflix film Wake Up Dead Man, the third in the Knives Out whodunnit series from the US director Rian Johnson. The streaming giant must have taken a shine to McCormack: he has also been cast as the dashing Mr Bingley in an upcoming Netflix adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Pavel Barter
Caoimhín Kelleher, 26
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When Caoimhín Kelleher saved a penalty kick from football’s first billionaire, Cristiano Ronaldo, against Portugal in Lisbon this month, he confirmed his status as one of the best spot kick stoppers in the business; his previous penalty saves coming against Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United and Kylian Mbappé of Real Madrid.
That was when he was playing for Liverpool in the absence of their regular goalkeeper Alisson, who is considered by many to be the best goalkeeper in the world, full stop. Kelleher also scored the winning goal in Liverpool’s 11-10 penalty shootout victory over Chelsea in the 2022 Carabao Cup final at Wembley.
The Brazil international Alisson’s continued excellence well into his thirties forced Kelleher into a summer move to a smaller Premier League club, Brentford, to get regular game time in the world’s most popular league. In doing so he cemented his Ireland place, having deposed another talented goalkeeper, Gavin Bazunu.
“I always believed in myself. I always had that goal in my mind and was always positive and confident I was going to achieve it,” he says.
Being able to play out from the back with the ball at his feet is considered one of his strengths, along with his shot-stopping ability, particularly from penalties. He could prove a bargain for Brentford, who paid £18 million for him in football’s hyper-inflated market. Paul Rowan
Paul Mescal, 29
It’s an easy parallel to draw — Beatlemania versus the furore surrounding Paul Mescal’s character, Connell, in Normal People. Production is under way on the Beatles biopics, which will explore the Fab Four’s rise to fame from the perspective of each band member, with Mescal as Paul McCartney. Then there’s the small task of playing William Shakespeare in Hamnet, the adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s bestseller co-starring Jessie Buckley that’s making waves at film festivals and tipped for Oscars. Next year will kick off with The History of Sound with Josh O’Connor, a romantic drama that Mescal also produced.
Certainly not just a heart-throb, Mescal takes his craft very seriously. “Over the last few years people have been talking about films as content. That’s a filthy word. It’s not content, it’s f***ing work. The craft of film — making, directing, lighting and production design. That keeps artists alive.”
Shooting to fame in the height of the pandemic in 2020, Mescal’s career is the stuff of drama students’ dreams. He’s credited with igniting a drama boom in Ireland, with some 600 applicants this year for the 16-place acting course at the Lir Academy, part of Trinity College Dublin, that sparked his career.
• Paul Mescal: ‘If Gladiator II makes me too famous, I’ll do an arthouse play’
He has come a long way since his 2018 ad for Denny sausages. Last year Mescal found himself in the acting hall of fame as he played the role of Lucius, son of Maximus, in the Hollywood blockbuster Gladiator II. The movie generated about €400 million. He has also had acclaimed turns in independent films, playing emotive characters such as the vulnerable Calum in Aftersun and starring opposite Andrew Scott in the queer love story All of Us Strangers.
Mescal has also appeared in the West End in A Streetcar Named Desire. “I want to be doing this for a long time. It is the best job in the world,” he says. It’s here that we have to remind ourselves that Mescal is yet to turn 30. Adele Miner
Fionn O’Shea, 28
DAN OLLERHEAD/BEN BLACKALLBE
The actor is starring in Steven Knight’s Netflix hit House of Guinness, as well as cementing himself as one to watch on the red carpet, wearing Alexander McQueen for the show’s London premiere. Read our interview with Fionn O’Shea.
Eve Hewson, 34
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“At school I was the wild troublemaker, skipping classes and smoking cigarettes with the boys,” Eve Hewson told The Sunday Times. “My parents didn’t want me to go into acting, but at 15 I was really jazzed up about the whole thing. They were, like, ‘Oh, here we go …’” At 34 Hewson can say I told you so, and then some.
• Bad Sisters review — here be comic-book monsters
After making waves in the Netflix psychological drama Behind Her Eyes and playing opposite Nicole Kidman in The Perfect Couple, she smashed it — there is no better word — on Sharon Horgan’s black comedy Bad Sisters. She is currently promoting her latest role alongside George Clooney in the Noah Baumbach-directed film Jay Kelly, acting as an ambassador for Hourglass cosmetics, and continuing her original role as Bono’s daughter — not that she ever needed to promote that. Elaine Prendeville
Sally Rooney, 34
It says something that Sally Rooney’s latest novel, Intermezzo, was a global sensation before anyone had ever read a page. This is a remarkable feat for a literary fiction writer from Castlebar in Co Mayo, who has published four books in just seven years. Intermezzo, unlike her previous books, revolves around rival siblings rather than a romantic entanglement, as they grapple with grief, their own nontraditional relationships, and how that love transforms them.
That Rooney’s books top bestsellers lists and win awards is a given. What’s unusual is how she has stayed true to herself during this period of immense success and fame. She has been described as a once-in-a-generation talent, and the TV adaptation of her book Normal People, which she co-wrote episodes of, was a worldwide sensation. It launched the careers of Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, and yet Rooney isn’t chasing screen success or the financial rewards that come with that.
• The millennial icon who branded herself as a ‘supporter of terror’
While she enjoyed the process, she has said she won’t be doing that again, “because I am a novelist, I want to write novels”. And so she enjoys a quiet life in the west of Ireland, where she writes about modern love, late capitalism and the complexities of human relationships, while the world awaits its next Rooney fix. Róisín Healy
Aimee Connolly, 31
It started with a vision and €10,000 of her own savings. It’s fair to say that Aimee Connolly, the founder and chief executive of the beauty empire Sculpted by Aimee, knows a thing or two about grafting. Right now she’s busier than ever. “We’ve just entered our busiest quarter of the year, which is mega-exciting,” she says.
Connolly set up shop in 2016 and the make-up and skincare brand has grown in both popularity and earnings, taking in a revenue of €32 million in 2024,, through high street stores and online at sculptedbyaimee.com. It has a flagship store on Grafton Street in Dublin and more bubblegum-chic shops in Kildare Village, Victoria Square, Belfast, and Carnaby Street in London, along with counters in Brown Thomas and Selfridges department stores.
• Sculpted founder Aimee Connolly on copycat brands and US plans
Now Connolly has her sights set on the US. “It’s a huge market and it could swallow you up, so we’re proceeding with caution,” she says. But there are slower moments in the entrepreneur’s life too. “I think work/life balance and particularly the balance part is subjective. I’ve heard it described once before as your personal harmony and that to me is far more true.”
Connolly’s advice for success: “Passion has to be at the core of what is driving you to succeed. The days can be too long not to be fuelled by something.” Adele Miner
Mo Chara, 28
The renaissance of the Irish language in recent years is remarkable. Was it possible a few years ago to imagine an Irish-language rap trio from Belfast playing a set on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury? But that’s where we’re at in 2025, with the stratospheric rise of Kneecap.
The group have performed sell-out gigs across the world, enjoyed widespread critical acclaim for their album Fine Art, and wrote and starred in their own biopic, the Bafta-winning Kneecap. Their songs focus on the usual hip-hop currency of partying and drug use, but also, more surprisingly for an act that’s gaining traction internationally, Irish republicanism and working-class life in Belfast.
As their star has risen, however, controversy and scrutiny have followed. After their performance at the Coachella festival in California in April the group faced criticism for their political comments, with one of the trio, Mo Chara, whose real name is Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, later charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London on November 24. In September, the case was dismissed because of a technical error, but the Crown Prosecution Service is now challenging that outcome.
• Kneecap: meet the UK’s most controversial band
• Kneecap review — raucous mock biopic of the controversial Northern Irish rappers
Ó hAnnaidh says he has struggled with being thrust into the spotlight of a courtroom, and its surrounding media scrum, and that the experience made him realise he was more “introverted” than he thought — a surprising admission to those who know him only from his energetic performances on stage.
For now, Ó hAnnaidh and his bandmates are keeping busy. A new album is in the works, with tour dates scheduled across Ireland, the UK, Europe and Japan. “There’s loads of stuff coming up,” Ó hAnnaidh says. “There’s no shortage. You’re not getting rid of us that easily.”
Grian Chatten, 30
SIMONE JOYNER/GETTY IMAGES
The swift ascent of Fontaines DC to the apex of the rock scene is testament to their musical talent and their preternatural ability to capture both the exhilaration and disillusionment of their generation. Their not-so-secret weapon is the frontman and lyricist Grian Chatten. The 30-year-old from Skerries has been a prolific and skilled writer of songs that are both deeply personal yet universally engaging, from the manifesto of A Hero’s Death to Starburster, a panic attack-inspired song that became the band’s biggest hit.
I Love You encapsulated both of those strands, his multilayered first-person lyrics heavy with despair while needling at the hypocritical elements of Irish society — and it’s not every day you’ll hear a pop star like Olivia Rodrigo covering a song (as she did at her Dublin gig this year) that references Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.
In 2023 he released a solo album (Chaos for the Fly) and has spoken about his desire to publish a poetry collection. Many have drawn parallels between his poetic vision and that of Shane MacGowan, and deem him a worthy successor to the Pogues frontman. With Fontaines DC’s star ascending globally following their last album, Romance, Chatten’s influence and impact continues apace. Lauren Murphy
Mary Florence Brown, 32
The art director from Belfast has a string of music videos under her belt, from Lady Gaga to Sabrina Carpenter, as well as bringing the set of Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie’s recent film A Big Bold Beautiful Journey to life. She was the assistant art director on the Florence Pugh and Harry Styles film Don’t Worry Darling, created sets for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour and this year was the art director on Lady Gaga’s Abracadabra video, which won two MTV Video Music Awards. “This was a full-circle moment for me,” Brown says. “I used to watch the VMAs as a kid. and I still watch them.”
How does it feel seeing her visions come to life on the world stage? “I like the doing of it more,” she says. “When I’m in the moment it feels like there’s nothing else that’s important in the world. It’s just this, and everything else is background noise.” When growing up in Belfast she used to love making her own short films and music videos. “I definitely feel very emotional when I think about the younger version of myself. I was so bad at school, I didn’t feel like I was talented at anything.”
David Sloane, 22
“I’m fascinated by really difficult problems and I think adequate healthcare is one of the biggest issues our generation faces, so why shouldn’t I try to solve that?” This is what led David Sloane to start his AI-driven health tech business, Cambrean. While sitting his Leaving Cert, Sloane established Cambrean, an app that combines the array of fitness and health apps and wearables on the market.
“I had a lot of different tools, devices and apps to better understand my health and it was difficult to actually understand what they were all doing. That revealed that there’s a much bigger problem at play, which is where I stepped in,” he says. The app has been acquired by Nucleus Genomics, the US health tech company.
“Nucleus Genomics is essentially carrying on the bigger vision that I had with Cambrean, in the sense that I want to drastically improve health and wellbeing for everybody. I want to reach a point where preventable diseases no longer exist.” With that comes a relocation to New York, which means that Sloane’s plans to study at UCC are looking unlikely. But he firmly backs himself in that decision, maintaining that if you never try, you’ll never know. “People around you might not understand why you think or feel the way you do, but you just have to believe that that is the truth and keep going.”
Sloane’s advice for success: “We’re quite risk averse in Ireland and the rest of Europe. I think we need to take more risks. You have to go all-in and once you’re there, then you’re ready.” Adele Miner
Claire O’Reilly, 32
BRYAN MEADE FOR THE TIMES
“If the me before the age of 16 had met adult Claire she probably would have thought, ah, neither an actor nor an astronaut, you fool. But I think if I got to explain my work, she’d be into it,” says the director Claire O’Reilly. Her contemporary adaptation of the Jane Austen classic Emma delighted audiences at the Abbey Theatre when it opened there late last year. O’Reilly then turned her hand to directing Hothouse, a tragicomedy exploring generational trauma and climate change, all set on an Arctic cruise ship. Not to mention she was also drafted in to help bring A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Paul Mescal, to the West End.
• Theatre director Claire O’Reilly on working with Paul Mescal and overpriced theatre tickets
O’Reilly does it all with ease and a laugh, as she believes that if you’re working that hard you might as well make it fun. “I love finding the balance between focused work and stupid jokes. I struggle to be responsive and generate ideas if I’m not at ease, so I try to cultivate or encourage a comfortable environment in my work,” she says.
O’Reilly’s advice for success: “It never really feels like it, so don’t go looking for it. Just try to stay curious and inspired.” Adele Miner
Jazzy, 29
The Dublin-born DJ and singer has established herself as one of the biggest names in dance music. Her music has been streamed millions of times and she has a top residency in Ibiza under her belt. Read our interview with Jazzy.
Ben Healy, 25
“If I retired tomorrow I’d be pretty happy with it,” Ben Healy said in July after becoming the first Irishman in 38 years to claim the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. Healy is the fourth Irish cyclist to wear the famous jersey, something he describes as a “pinch me moment”. With the achievement came notability, as Healy says he went from slipping under the radar to being a recognisable figure in Irish sport. “The yellow jersey brought a lot more attention than I ever thought it could. I’m still getting recognised on the street.”
Healy also won bronze in the road race at this year’s World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda. This was Ireland’s first podium finish in the event since 1989, when Sean Kelly claimed the same medal. Healy may have made history, but for him the joy comes from the ritual of training and improving his performance. “I think with the results I’ve had over the past few years, I’m probably going to be quite fortunate throughout my career to make a pretty good living,” he says. “I just consistently enjoy riding my bike, I don’t think I could do it if I didn’t enjoy it, and that’s it. I actually just like the process of getting up every day and slowly getting better.” Ruby Hegarty
Alison Oliver, 28
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“Essentially, with your job as an actor, you’re really not focusing on yourself, you’re focusing on this other character,” Alison Oliver says. “It’s always a strange flip when suddenly you feel this spotlight on you and who you are.” Parts the Cork woman has played include Frances in the highly acclaimed BBC adaption of Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends, and the delicate and disquieted Venetia Catton in Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn. The characters she plays always seem worlds apart, which is how she likes it. “I’m always craving something different to what I’ve done before.”
She has wrapped filming for Fennell’s adaptation of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, which is due for release on Valentine’s Day next year. Oliver will play Isabella Linton, a neighbour who goes on to marry Heathcliff. We’ll also see her opposite Ralph Fiennes in The Beacon, a UK-set drama on family, class, race and identity, and Emily Mortimer’s directorial debut, Dennis, starring alongside Yura Borisov.
• How the Saltburn star Alison Oliver is taking Hollywood by storm
Oliver has not stopped since she graduated in 2020 from the Lir Academy. She landed the role of Frances the day after graduating. She keeps quiet about her private life. “Your personal life is your personal life. I’m just choosing not to talk about that.” Adele Miner
Niall Horan, 32
When One Direction parted ways in 2016, Niall Horan needed some time out. “When the band stopped I went travelling in Asia for four months, just staying in shite hotels and hostels and I could do more than I expected,” he says. The trip lit a fire in him to strike a better balance between the limelight and his private life. “In this world you give people a handshake, they take your arm off, so I just keep my private life private,” he says.
And so it has been a quiet year from the Mullingar native, following his world tour last year and the tragic death of his One Direction bandmate Liam Payne, but his influence hasn’t waned. In August he made a surprise return to the stage, joining Shawn Mendes at the O2 arena in London. US audiences have been rooting for Horan as he returned as a judge on The Voice, alongside Snoop Dogg, Reba McEntire and Michael Bublé, having taken a year out to tour. This summer he has also started writing his fourth album.
Fans of golf will know that Horan is a self-proclaimed golf “anorak”, and regularly appears at the biggest fixtures. He owns his own sports agency, Modest! Golf Management, representing Ireland’s Leona Maguire and Brendan Lawlor. He’s also become a serial investor, with a stake in the wearable brand Whoop, and the Boston Common Golf team. Róisín Healy
Rhasidat Adeleke, 23
REUTERS/ALEKSANDRA SZMIGIEL
Her 2025 World Championship ambitions may not have gone according to plan, but the 23-year-old sprinter from Dublin remains one of the country’s most inspiring athletes. Read our interview with Rhasidat Adeleke.
Eimear Lynch, 30 
Eimear Lynch grew up with a love of fashion, and tried her hand at styling before pivoting to photography. “I liked the control I could have, to shape how a story is told through images,” she says. The Wicklow-born photographer has landed in Brighton via Dublin, London and Paris, all before turning 30, where her raw, sensitive fashion images developed into a critical exploration of girlhood, beauty and consumerism.
The fashion designer Simone Rocha, who shares her appreciation for subversive femininity, was quick to enlist her services, with photography commissions also coming from brands like Miu Miu as well as musicians including Fontaines DC.
A career-defining moment came with the release of her photobook, Girls’ Night, a limited edition release from the cult art book publisher IDEA, with a foreword from — who else? — Simone Rocha. The book captures the ceremony of teenage bedrooms and discos, using the visual language of fake tan, bodycon dresses and perfect hair. “Girls’ Night draws on the beauty rituals and social dynamics I remember from that time,” Lynch says. “The way those small, intimate moments can feel both ordinary and transformative.” Her next project, Irish Girls, is in the works.
Her advice for aspiring photographers “Put everything you can into your work; you have to be obsessed with what you’re doing. And don’t try to do it all, find your own vision and stay true to it.” Aisling Farinella
Adam Harris, 30
How Ireland understands autism has radically changed in the past decade, and a generous slice of that positive shift can be attributed to Adam Harris. The Wicklow-based social entrepreneur founded the autism charity AsIAm while a secondary school student in 2014 and has persisted ever since in lobbying for people who share with him the experience of growing up as an autistic person in Ireland. “I guess starting out on this journey I had a very clear vision of what I hoped AsIAm would achieve,” he says, “which is an Ireland where autistic people would have ‘the same chance’. But bringing about social change requires you to learn so much more, from how to advocate and influence effectively to fundraising and financial management.”
AsIAm has grown from one person to a team of 70 staff, while Harris was appointed to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in July 2020 and to the executive council of Autism Europe the same year. AsIAm works to influence policy in areas including education, legislation and housing, and played host to the 2025 Autism Europe International Congress in Dublin last month, where Harris served as chair.
A younger brother of the current Irish tanaiste, Simon Harris, Adam was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome while at primary school. “Over time I have learnt that one of the most important tools for me to manage anxiety and stay productive is plenty of regular movement,” he says. “This includes at least one good walk every day and also lots of movement breaks so that I can stay regulated.” Elaine Prendeville
Steven He, 28
Moving with his family from China to Limerick at eight years old, the comedian and actor Steven He says, was “the most impactful change in my trajectory”. At the same age He knew that he wanted to perform and by 13 his mind was made up that he wanted to be an actor. Now, at 28, he is making those childhood dreams a reality, creating sketches and comedy clips across social media, YouTube and film. While many share that dream, few have attained the reach that He has, particularly in the notoriously fickle world of social media. He has amassed 13.7m YouTube followers and 7.7m on TikTok.
He is now based in LA, but still firmly grounded in his Irish roots, describing himself as a Chinese-Irish actor. It is notoriously difficult to navigate a transition from online success to traditional media, but He is doing just that, getting cast as the lead in the martial arts comedy Kung Fu Deadly, which filmed in Meath and Dublin this year.
His one daily ritual: “My vision board. I have a book of vision boards, each written with hundreds of lines of successes that seem out of reach at first, like ‘Reach 1 million followers’. I read the current board every morning, until I’ve completed or am satisfied with it, then I write a new one.” Adele Miner
Carys D Coburn, 33
“I’ve always found other people hard, but writing helped me make sense of them,” says the writer and theatre maker Carys D Coburn. Making a name for yourself as a playwright isn’t easy, though a skim through Coburn’s CV would have you assume it must be. The winner of the Verity Bargate award in 2017 for Citysong, Coburn was also among the finalists for the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn prize for the play Bán; other plays include Absent the Wrong and Hothouse. Despite winning acclaim, Coburn points out that the industry isn’t exactly lucrative — playwrights are inherently driven by the desire to tell stories. “I love my life but I don’t have a pension. But maybe that’s fine?” Coburn says with a laugh. “I write plays for people who don’t have living rooms. But often the things that are hardest to bring into focus we most need to. You have to adequately reckon with the big bad interconnected world we live in. And I want to, because I want to speak to the people who — like me — are struggling to understand it, to find stable housing in it, to survive it.”Adele Miner
Liam Fuller, 18
Meet Liam Fuller, the Dublin-born teenager who posted a photo of himself skipping class to take a sales call in his school’s bathroom. He was suspended for that but quit school soon thereafter, what with having raised €1.2 million for an AI company he cofounded, and all of this before he turned 18.
“My lightbulb moment was when I joined Patch, a youth accelerator programme for Ireland’s top talent last year,” Fuller tells The Sunday Times. “At the end of the six weeks we had built a company, got initial customers and done viral marketing. That programme single-handedly showed me what was possible in a short space of time.”
Cut to July 2025, and Source, the AI start-up he cofounded, had secured that €1.2 million in seed funding from Square Peg, a leading Australian venture capital fund. Source is an agentic AI-powered interface that improves the retail procurement process, moving often significant spend from an Excel sheet to a data-driven planning and purchasing platform.
Who needs the Leaving Cert anyway? His parents are behind his plan. “They both support me thoroughly,” Fuller says. “A lot of people, when you want to do something ambitious in your life, they like to share their opinions of what you should and should not do. I’m really lucky to have parents who support me but also question me on things I could be doing better.” Elaine Prendeville
Aishling Moore, 30
Starting any business in your early twenties can be a huge risk and challenge, but Aishling Moore did all that and more in the competitive Irish restaurant industry. The young chef was 24 when she opened her fish-focused restaurant, Goldie, just months before the pandemic. Somehow she didn’t just lead the restaurant through these challenging times, she thrived. Goldie has just turned six, and in that time Moore has managed to add even more achievements to her ever-expanding list, including a Michelin Bib Gourmand, which Goldie was awarded in 2021; Moore also has several cookbooks under her belt. “My plans will continue to revolve around making Goldie a great place to eat and work,” she says. The old adage “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life” rings true for Moore. “I consider myself to be so lucky to have a job that I love — it makes the long days and weeks all worthwhile. I really enjoy collaborating with others in the hospitality industry. Any opportunity for a new challenge or learning is something that excites me.” Adele Miner
Alex Dunne, 19
This year marked Alex Dunne’s rookie campaign in Formula 2 — and the 19-year-old from Offaly made his mark, with feature race victories in Sakhir and Imola. The young motorsport star has been tipped as Ireland’s answer to Lando Norris, as a driver development programme member with McLaren for the past two years. Recently released from his contract, it’s not known who he’ll race for next.
“I had an idea pretty early on that it was something that I was good at, but how successful I was going to be is always a hard one to judge,” he says. He put great pressure on himself to succeed, knowing that his family sacrificed a lot to support him.
“For me as a kid, unfortunately we were always in a position where financially things were very difficult and, because of that, I had to perform at my best each weekend,” he says. “If I didn’t, there was a possibility that my career wouldn’t be able to progress. We didn’t have the funding to just do it ourselves, so the only way we could pitch it to other people or other teams was by my performance.”
While the likes of Lando Norris and his F1 competitors have drawn a legion of new interest in motorsport, for Dunne it’s his dad who kick-started and continues to mould his career. “He’s definitely been the most influential person to me in motorsport. He’s the one who taught me how to drive, and it has got me to where I am today,” he says. Motorsport is a family business of sorts: his uncle and grandfather were also drivers, and his mother worked at the Irish racetrack Mondello Park, which is how his parents met.
Dunne’s ultimate dream, naturally, is to make it to F1, but also to become its world champion. “It’s always something I dreamt of as a kid, and that’s pretty much what my whole career is based off.” Ruby Hegarty