Virus can't interfere with Paddy's biology

GETTING out of bed to face a Leaving Certificate exam is difficult for most students.

But for Paddy Kitt this week, it has been impossible.

The 17-year-old from Knocknacarra in Galway was rushed to hospital after becoming ill early on Wednesday morning.

Paddy had already finished several exams at St Joseph's College in the city when he was struck down by a virus and rushed to University College Hospital.

But the teenager, who is a nephew of three former Fianna Fail ministers, still managed to complete his French exam on Wednesday and did his biology paper yesterday -- from his hospital bed.

"I am alright now thank God," Paddy said yesterday. "It arrived at around 3am on Wednesday, I didn't see it coming at all."

Paddy, whose father Prionsias is a brother of former Fianna Fail ministers Michael and Tom Kitt and Aine Brady, has been diagnosed with a stomach virus.

However, he is determined that he will sit his final exam with his classmates on Monday back at school.

"I still have accountancy to do on Monday but I hope to be able to do it in The Bish (St Joseph's) with everyone else," he said.

Paddy hopes to study commerce and French at NUIG -- which might give some insight into where his determination to sit the exam in hospital on Wednesday came from.

"The French exam was important to me as I want to get a place in Galway," he said.

- John Fallon

Irish Independent