COMPETITION:Three Irish students have made it to the global semi-finals of the James Dyson Awards, seeing off competition from 500 entries.

Harry de Stacpoole (23), from the University of Limerick, invented Thadeus, an hydraulic chair system to help disabled sailors to access sailing boats.

DIT student Ian Burnell (23) has received the support of Dublin Fire Brigade for his invention – the Enhanced Emergency Lighting Barrier (EEL) – for use by the emergency services to warn oncoming traffic.

Paddy Mulcahy (21), also a graduate of the University of Limerick, has already won the Irish leg of the 2012 James Dyson award for his invention U-neat, an innovative sanitary hospital furniture system which minimises the spread of healthcare-associated infections.

All three inventions will now go before an international judging panel consisting of esteemed designers and academics from various countries.

The top 15 inventions will be selected for the final on October 18th and will be presented to James Dyson, who will select the overall winner and two runners-up on November 8th.

The winner will receive £10,000 (€12,000) and £10,000 for the design department at their university.