YOUR COUNTRY YOUR CALL

The number of contenders for the prizes of €100,000 each to the two winning entries to the high-profile Your Country Your Call competition will be whittled down to the final 20 this week, according to The Sunday Business Post.

Just 50 of more than 9,000 submissions remain in the running at present and the winners will be announced on September 17. As well as the individual prizes, the two winners will receive €1m funding to help implement their ideas.

The newspaper notes the scheme, which is the brainchild of President Mary McAleese’s husband Martin, has taken considerable flak because the winners are required to give up their rights to their ideas and there is also some confusion over who is backing it.

A spokesman for the competition told the newspaper a cash fund of just under €2m had been accumulated through donations from 13 companies and individuals.