Joanne O'Riordan

Millstreet in County Cork is the birthplace of Joanne O'Riordan, who entered the world on 24 April 1996 with tetra-amelia syndrome. She grew up there, swam as a child, and later turned a small classroom impulse into a national campaign when she asked Enda Kenny about disability funding during the 2011 election. That question helped bring her before the United Nations, into international technology conversations, and into awards that recognised her as one of Cork's most memorable young voices.