Almost 4,000 students from across Ireland will attend the 12th annual I Wish festival for an immersive, experience-led programme designed to build confidence, curiosity and awareness of real-world STEM careers on 5 February in the RDS Dublin.
The aim of the festival centred around STEM is to ensure the girls attending find it informative, but also feel it is a space they belong to.
Construction has the lowest female representation of any sector in Ireland, at just over 10% overall, and only 1% on building sites. Ireland urgently needs these skills, and early exposure is critical, according to Sharon Lombard, operations director at I Wish.
“If girls don’t see these careers as options in school, the talent pipeline simply won’t meet industry demand,” she explains.
As a result, there is a new dedicated Construction Zone, delivered in partnership with the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) at this year’s event. The zone will provide hands-on demonstrations; insight into apprenticeships and engineering pathways; and direct engagement with women working across this evolving sector.
The 2025 I Wish survey of female students’ attitudes to STEM found that access to practical STEM subjects remains dramatically lower for girls in single-sex schools, with just 5% reporting access to construction studies and 6% to engineering, compared with 85% and 74% respectively in mixed schools. This is despite near-universal access to biology and chemistry.
“The growing concern is that confidence is still a massive barrier – 55% of the girls who are attending I Wish are still saying that confidence is a barrier. What we need to do is build that belief and sense of belonging, where girls can see women succeeding in these fields, and it changes how they see themselves,” says Sharon.
As a dairy farmer, Sharon milks cows every day and has seen the impact of technological advances in agriculture over the last number of years.
“We analyse data and technology in the day-to-day running of our farm, with milk recording, grass management and apps like Herdwatch. That has all evolved, and it really aligns with what we do at I Wish, making sure that young women see these opportunities in evolving jobs.
“It’s the same in construction, the sector is no longer about boots on the ground. It’s about robotics and 3D modelling. These are all careers we want to highlight. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. We can see a real shortage, particularly in agriculture; there’s a real visibility problem when it comes to women,” Sharon explains.
Gráinne Gahan, Castletroy College, Co Limerick.
Access to subjects
A big challenge for students in all-girls schools, according to Sharon, is access to subjects like engineering, construction and agriculture science.
“Girls then have to do it as an additional subject outside of school, that’s really challenging.”
Looking to mixed schools, Sharon says there is more access, “but girls aren’t choosing them because they feel like they don’t fit in.”
Grainne Gahan is a maths and computer science teacher in Castletroy College, Co Limerick, who sees this issue on the ground.
“This is our third year attending the I Wish showcase. Three years ago, I was looking at ways in which we could increase the female uptake in our STEM subjects at senior cycle.
As our school is mixed, we offer a huge range of subjects including engineering, construction, technical drawing, computer science, applied math, physics and chemistry. So, the choice is there for female students, but we don’t have a huge take-up for subjects outside of biology,” explains Grainne.
They have been able to build confidence in the students, bringing them out of their classroom and school environment and showing them the wide variety of courses and careers involved in STEM.
“Gathering feedback from students afterwards, they just said their eyes were opened to all the potential and domains.
“I only have one girl in my computer science class in sixth year and three in fifth year, so I am trying to increase that year on year. The buzz has started within the school from the day out, and it has gotten the girls talking amongst themselves,” says Grainne.
To support nationwide access, Iarnród Éireann are providing free rail transport from 22 locations across Ireland, while a partnership with Translink will ensure accessibility for students travelling from Northern Ireland.
“It makes it a very special day for the girls. They get to bond with their peers and other students attending as well, as getting to explore STEM without all the distractions at school. The variety of the speakers at the event – because they bring in multiple domains – I think that’s what’s brilliant. The day starts from the minute they get on the train in Limerick,” says Grainne.
Some of the speakers for I Wish 2026 includes Katelyn Cummins, Rose of Tralee and electrical apprentice; Gráinne Walsh. Irish Olympian boxer; Mary O’Donnell, I Wish alumna and aeronautical engineer and Marie Moynihan, senior vice president of global human resource services at Dell Technologies.
Tickets for I Wish are €15 per student. For more information, see iwish.ie
.
Almost 4,000 students from across Ireland will attend the 12th annual I Wish festival for an immersive, experience-led programme designed to build confidence, curiosity and awareness of real-world STEM careers on 5 February in the RDS Dublin.
The aim of the festival centred around STEM is to ensure the girls attending find it informative, but also feel it is a space they belong to.
Construction has the lowest female representation of any sector in Ireland, at just over 10% overall, and only 1% on building sites. Ireland urgently needs these skills, and early exposure is critical, according to Sharon Lombard, operations director at I Wish.
“If girls don’t see these careers as options in school, the talent pipeline simply won’t meet industry demand,” she explains.
As a result, there is a new dedicated Construction Zone, delivered in partnership with the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) at this year’s event. The zone will provide hands-on demonstrations; insight into apprenticeships and engineering pathways; and direct engagement with women working across this evolving sector.
The 2025 I Wish survey of female students’ attitudes to STEM found that access to practical STEM subjects remains dramatically lower for girls in single-sex schools, with just 5% reporting access to construction studies and 6% to engineering, compared with 85% and 74% respectively in mixed schools. This is despite near-universal access to biology and chemistry.
“The growing concern is that confidence is still a massive barrier – 55% of the girls who are attending I Wish are still saying that confidence is a barrier. What we need to do is build that belief and sense of belonging, where girls can see women succeeding in these fields, and it changes how they see themselves,” says Sharon.
As a dairy farmer, Sharon milks cows every day and has seen the impact of technological advances in agriculture over the last number of years.
“We analyse data and technology in the day-to-day running of our farm, with milk recording, grass management and apps like Herdwatch. That has all evolved, and it really aligns with what we do at I Wish, making sure that young women see these opportunities in evolving jobs.
“It’s the same in construction, the sector is no longer about boots on the ground. It’s about robotics and 3D modelling. These are all careers we want to highlight. If you can’t see it, you can’t be it. We can see a real shortage, particularly in agriculture; there’s a real visibility problem when it comes to women,” Sharon explains.
Gráinne Gahan, Castletroy College, Co Limerick.
Access to subjects
A big challenge for students in all-girls schools, according to Sharon, is access to subjects like engineering, construction and agriculture science.
“Girls then have to do it as an additional subject outside of school, that’s really challenging.”
Looking to mixed schools, Sharon says there is more access, “but girls aren’t choosing them because they feel like they don’t fit in.”
Grainne Gahan is a maths and computer science teacher in Castletroy College, Co Limerick, who sees this issue on the ground.
“This is our third year attending the I Wish showcase. Three years ago, I was looking at ways in which we could increase the female uptake in our STEM subjects at senior cycle.
As our school is mixed, we offer a huge range of subjects including engineering, construction, technical drawing, computer science, applied math, physics and chemistry. So, the choice is there for female students, but we don’t have a huge take-up for subjects outside of biology,” explains Grainne.
They have been able to build confidence in the students, bringing them out of their classroom and school environment and showing them the wide variety of courses and careers involved in STEM.
“Gathering feedback from students afterwards, they just said their eyes were opened to all the potential and domains.
“I only have one girl in my computer science class in sixth year and three in fifth year, so I am trying to increase that year on year. The buzz has started within the school from the day out, and it has gotten the girls talking amongst themselves,” says Grainne.
To support nationwide access, Iarnród Éireann are providing free rail transport from 22 locations across Ireland, while a partnership with Translink will ensure accessibility for students travelling from Northern Ireland.
“It makes it a very special day for the girls. They get to bond with their peers and other students attending as well, as getting to explore STEM without all the distractions at school. The variety of the speakers at the event – because they bring in multiple domains – I think that’s what’s brilliant. The day starts from the minute they get on the train in Limerick,” says Grainne.
Some of the speakers for I Wish 2026 includes Katelyn Cummins, Rose of Tralee and electrical apprentice; Gráinne Walsh. Irish Olympian boxer; Mary O’Donnell, I Wish alumna and aeronautical engineer and Marie Moynihan, senior vice president of global human resource services at Dell Technologies.
Tickets for I Wish are €15 per student. For more information, see iwish.ie
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