When did you start swimming and where?

I started swimming when I was five and I compete for Sundays Well Swimming Club where I’ve had a number of coaches. Deirdre Cunningham is my current club coach but Dave Malone coaches me when I train with the Irish team in Dublin. My club has some really good swimmers coming through at the moment, like Sharon Cemchiy.

Did you play other sports?

Yes. I went to school in Ashton in Blackrock which is a big hockey school but, with my sight, I always find it hard to hit the ball in hockey or tennis. I did lots of gymnastics and martial arts. My dad works fulltime with the Fire Brigade but he teaches Kung Fu and all of our family are also swimmers.

What is your daily training routine?

I get up at 5am or around then, get some breakfast and then go training from 6am to 7.45am. Then I leave the pool at 8am and get to school for 9am. The pool is only around 10 minutes from my house and my mam usually drives me.

What qualifies you to compete in para-sport?

I have a visual impairment called myopic astigmatism. Basically I am very short-sighted and particularly sensitive to light. In sunlight I find it very hard to see. If the light is behind you I can’t see you at all until about a hand’s distance away. I can see things better when I wear sunglasses. It’s all about the light.

Does that impairment disrupt your everyday life?

I’m mostly OK but I can’t read the board in school or up on a screen. It’s very linked to the size of the writing too. I have to bring my phone very close to read texts. Things like departures/arrivals boards in airports are the same and sometimes I carry a monocular to help me read stuff.

Will your sight change as you get older?

No, it will stay the same and not deteriorate. Apparently someone with my classification could drive in America but not here. I could pass the test but insurance is the problem so that will make me dependent on public transport in the future.

You’ve just sat your Leaving Cert. Did the Irish education system make any adjustment for your visual impairment and give you any extra support?

I did eight subjects for the Leaving and dropped down to pass Irish because I’m not counting it for points but otherwise I did the same as everyone else. I write on A3 papers for the exams and I could have the services of a scribe to dictate to if I wanted — but I have never used one.

What about swimming. Do you wear specially tinted goggles?

No because a lot of goggles are already tinted! The one thing I find hard is in the 100m backstroke because, with the light, it’s hard for me to see the ropes or flags above me. When we go training abroad and are outdoors, because of the brightness I keep hitting the ropes and get covered in marks!

We hear you are musically talented as well.

(Laughs). I don’t know about that but I do a bit of music. I can play the flute, the piano, the violin and the trad-flute. Music was one of my Leaving Cert subjects and I have flute classes after school every Tuesday and have to fit that practice in too. I’ve played in ceili and concert bands in the past.

Gosh, swimming, studying and music! Are you not wrecked at the end of every day?

I’ve been doing swimming seriously since I was 13 so it’s a routine for me now. My mam usually drives me and luckily the pool is just 10 minutes away.

How did you become part of Ireland’s elite Para-swimming squad?

I went to an ‘open day’ about four years ago where I met Dave Malone. I got classified nationally within a year but only got my international classification last year.

You are competing in five different events — 50m and 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m breaststroke and the 200m IM — at these European Championships but do you have a favourite?

I’d be good at 100m back (crawl) and I like the 100 free too where my fastest time is 1.02.70 from the World Series in Sheffield this year.

People can be confused by all the classifications in para-sport but would it make it easier for them to remember that the higher the number in the category title, the lower the impairment.

That’s right. The fastest guy in my S13 100m freestyle category swims it in under 52 seconds. In able-bodied swimming 49 seconds is good for 100 free, so that gives you some idea of the standard.

The Leaving Cert results are probably going to come out right in the middle of your Europeans. What are you hoping for?

Speech and language therapy in UCC is my first choice and I have law and business as my second. I think speech therapy would be an interesting job but the points are tough, it was 523 to get in last year.

This is your first European Championships so you’ll obviously learn loads from them but is this event of benefit to more than just you and the Irish para-swimmers?

Having Europeans in Ireland is a great opportunity for the whole Irish Paralympic team ahead of Tokyo 2020. It’s a great opportunity for us to see what we’ve got and to show what we can do to the Irish public and and also, hopefully, to win a few medals as well!