What is your background?

I’m 15 years old and from Enniscorthy, Co Wexford. Since I was nine, I’ve been developing apps for mobile devices. My first two apps went live on the app store when I was 10. One app I developed helps people with speech impediments or Down Syndrome and is called My Voice. This app has had thousands of downloads.

What is the latest app you have developed?

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In November 2018, my latest app called Flash Records went live. Flash Records is a tool that helps farmers with their accounts, farm records and employee payslips. It allows the farmer to take a photo of an invoice, animal medicine prescription or any record for the farm business and with the touch of a button the invoice/record is emailed directly to the farmer’s accountant.

How can the app help farmers with employees?

It has a function for the easy management of employee records and wages. Using the app, the farmer can instruct their accountant what wages are to be paid to each employee on the farm.

The accountant then prepares a payslip using this instruction for the employee and the farmer’s own records. This feature will be very useful to farmers impacted by the PAYE modernisation changes.

Can farmers download this app today and how much does it cost?

My app can be downloaded in the Apple app store. It comes with one month free trial and costs €3.99 per month thereafter. The app is only available on Apple devices right now.

I’m busy studying for my Junior Cert at the minute, but I hope to build an Android version of the app this summer, after my exams.

Where did you get the idea for the app?

My dad Michael is a tillage farmer and wanted an app that could help him record fertiliser application rates for compliance records. However, I decided to extend the app to include all records and invoices as well as the employee payslip feature. I worked closely with David Farrell, who is a neighbouring dairy farmer, to learn what features he needed in the app for his business.

How have Apple helped you over recent years?

For the last two years, Apple have given me a full scholarship to attend the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in California. Over 6,000 developers from around the world attend the conference every year and Apple give out just 300 scholarships to attend. Both times at the conference, I’ve met Apple CEO, Tim Cook. When he came to Ireland last year, I got to meet him for a third time and I showed him a prototype of my app. Apple then flew over a professional designer from the UK to work with me on making the app look professional and user intuitive.