Eire Student, like many other sites, claims to be the "ultimate portal for Irish students online". Unlike some of its competitors though, it aims to cover both the Republic and Northern Ireland.
It was started a year ago by 17-year-old Kristian Johansson, who is the product of five countries in that he was born in Australia of an Irish mother and Swedish father and was brought up and educated in both Kuwait and Bahrain before coming to Ireland.
He says that the site came about because of the "huge lack of resources and information available to Irish students online, compared to other countries, such as the UK and the US". Whether this lack of resources is a reality or just marketing-speak is debatable. The homepage has links to various subjects which in turn link to related websites. However, there are no links for agricultural science, computer studies, construction studies, drama and physics. It has been that way for quite a while too. There really is no point in announcing the fact that you have no links for these topics - better not to mention them until you do have links to include and write about.
There is good general information on Irish education, though this would be of far more use to people abroad rather than anyone already in school or college here.
The News Feed section is up-to-date and makes good choices about which stories it links to on other sites (none of the news is self-generated). It says a lot that its sports links include only cricket, golf, motor sport, rugby, soccer, tennis. Hasn't anyone there heard of hurling? Gaelic football? Camogie?
There is a lot of work to be done here if this is really to become "the ultimate portal for Irish students online". And maybe you can help. It says Eire Student is constantly looking for contributors to the site, for writing content, answering users' questions, and general maintenance and running of the site. Anyone with experience in the Internet and education in Ireland is invited to make contact. There's no mention of remuneration, but you can get in touch through the site.
