Offaly student in with Junior Dragons' Den chance

Killeigh teenager Conor Lynch is to find out later this week if he’s been chosen for the next Junior Dragons’ Den television programme.

The fifth-year student in Tullamore College who has a fledgling woodturning business is crossing his fingers he’ll go all the way to the televised series and win himself a €2,000 bursary, which he says he’d spend on a bigger and better lathe.

Conor applied for Junior Dragons’ Den along with approximately 250 others a few weeks ago. Following a successful phone interview, he and 59 others attended the Marker Hotel in Dublin last Saturday to show off their products.

Also showing last Saturday were fellow students from Tullamore College Emma Kirwan, Lorcan O’Rourke and Gavin Mooney with a water leak detection system and Jack Dooley and Finian Carton with a sports sock.

Later this week show organisers will give 20 of those 60 the good news that they’ve gotten through to the filming stage in late February, and half of those will be successful in getting bursaries.

The lathe Conor has in mind costs €2,450, but he said the sale of his current lathe along with a bursary should he be successful would foot that bill. “It’d mean I’d be able to do bigger pieces,” he explained, “and the smaller pieces would take less time.”

Regardless of whether or not Conor makes it through to the next round, business for him is booming. Just before Christmas his wooden bowls and other items went down a treat at the RDS Christmas Craft Fair, and even last Saturday he managed to sell two bowls while taking part in the Junior Dragons’ Den selection event.