Christmas Greetings

I wish all the readers of this Blog a Very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year. Special greetings to our diaspora abroad in near and far away lands who cannot return home for Christmas especially our members and friends in the Great Britain and Middle East Regions of Engineers Ireland. We are especially thinking of you this Christmas as I was on the night of my Inaugural Address last May and my Presidential Address in September.  The work of the Engineers Ireland’s Benevolent Fund has never been more important to assist our members struggling in the recession.  I thank Ray Sexton for his wise chairmanship of the Fund in recent years and welcome John Higgins as the new Chair and wish him well in this important role. 

Time has flown since I started this Blog 7 months ago – it’s now 5 months to go as President of Engineers Ireland when I will hand over to Michael Phillips as the new President.

It’s been a very busy time partly due to the duties expected of a President but also due to the special interest I said I would show in Enterprise and Job Creation by visiting Research Institutes and Infrastructure Projects around the country.

Over the next 4 or 5 months I will be busy also. I'm looking forward to visiting the South, South East, North West, South West and North East more than was possible this year. I'm scheduled to go to Mayo, Athlone and Carlow in January, to Kerry, Cork and London in February, to Sligo and Louth in March, to Cork and Belfast in April and the Midlands in May.

I'm enjoying immensely meeting all the engineers across the country in the various regions and sectors. I find optimism and encouragement wherever I go that Ireland will pull through the current economic crisis and emerge stronger and wiser for the future. 

As I said in my Inaugural Address last May, we will get no credit for cursing the darkness but every encouragement to shine a New Light on the opportunities that lie ahead. We have to seize those opportunities in energy, water, computing, pharma and medical device sectors. We have to channel all of our energies to developing the economy and creating jobs whether at home or through the exports of our goods and services.

I want to again thank the Council, Executive and Director General Team of Engineers Ireland for all their hard work during the year.  I want to pay a particular tribute to Director General John Power and his six directors Fionnuala Kilbane, Aidan Harney, Damien Owens, Margie McCarthy, John Butler and John Byrne.  In difficult economic times, they have guided Engineers Ireland to be a stronger organisation with a higher public profile that continues to be financially strong and supports further growth through excellence.  I also want to thank the Regional and Sector committees who keep the lamps burning for Engineers Ireland throughout the year in their respective areas.

Let the bright lights of Christmas shine for you and your families as we approach 2012.  I hope that our slow national progress to recovery will at least continue and hopefully begin to accelerate next year.

ICE Annual Dinner in Belfast

I travelled north to Belfast on December 8^th to the Europa Hotel Belfast to attend the Annual Dinner of the Northern Region of the Institution of Civil Engineers (London). I was kindly invited by Ian Long the Northern Region Chairman of ICE.

I also met the ICE President Richard Coackley who is Director of Energy with URS Scott Wilson. His central message to his members was to say that Northern Ireland has a unique opportunity to develop wind and tidal energy sources due to its coastal location. We must drive down our carbon emissions while at the same time keeping the lights on and ensuring quality of life, he said.

‘As civil engineers' he said 'we have the ability to help policymakers understand how to meet society's infrastructure needs, taking into consideration the wider natural, social and environmental impacts.' I quite agree with him and look forward to his visit to Dublin in late January when he will present his Presidential Address to the Republic of Ireland branch of ICE. I will then make a reciprocal visit to Richard in London in early February when I will present my Presidential Address to the GB Region of Engineers Ireland at ICE Headquarters.

There were some 450 local ICE members at the Annual Dinner in Belfast. I was very happy to again meet our own Northern Region Chairman Peter Quinn and former Chairman Jonathan Hegan a former colleague director in RPS and now Chairman of the Titanic Trust responsible for regeneration of the old Harland & Wolff shipyards into the new Titanic Quarter. Peter is also chairman of the Organising Committee for our Annual Conference in Europa Belfast on April 26^th / 27^th next.

I was also delighted to meet Dr Gordon Millington for the first time who was the only NI based President of Engineers Ireland (1997 - 1998) then Senior Partner of Kirk McClure Morton and now the Belfast office of RPS.

Presidential Address to DIT

On December 7^th I was pleased to accept an invitation from the DIT Dean of Engineering Dr Mike Murphy to give my Presidential Address on 'Building a Sustainable Recovery' to the engineering school student body in Bolton St. I was accompanied by Julie Goggins Third Level Liaison Officer with Engineers Ireland who has been working actively with the DIT student body.

The President normally represents his Presidential Address to a number of the Regions throughout the year including the GB Region in London. This however was the first time where the Address was requested by a Third Level Engineering College - signs of the growing relationship between Engineers Ireland and Third Level.

It was also the first presentation of the Address since it was initially given in mid September. In reviewing it I was struck by the degree of update it required. The Address was quite current in terms of our ambitions in Engineers Ireland last September and much has been achieved in the intervening period thanks to the hard work by our Council, our Executive and the DG's team.

Two of our major ambitions in September were to finalise our Membership Rules and also to launch our new TV Advertising Campaign. Both were successfully achieved in the 3 month period to December.

There was a lively and very relevant 'question and answer' session after the Address mostly centring on the issue of Maths Education and also reform of the Planning system to fastrack critical infrastructure projects. We also spoke of DIT ambitions to integrate all of the current colleges on a new single campus at Grangegorman which is a very exciting project and as you can see below will transform a greater part of the north inner city between the Phoenix Park and the River Liffey.

Model of New DIT Grangegorman Campus
Courtesy of www.merrionstreet.ie



I repeat below the relevant sentences from the Address that gave rise to the questions from the students

'The overall objective is to build a sustainable recovery and a solid future for our people. That's means looking beyond the immediate crisis that we face as a country and start building a long term vibrant economy that will last into the future'.

'The current maths situation in Ireland is a systemic failure in the educational system at national level. The student must always be at the centre of the educational system but the quality of an educational system can never exceed the quality of its teachers'.

'Modern building and infrastructural developments now need to be 'plan led' not 'developer led'. Planning decisions made by An Bord Pleanala need to be respected as meeting a national or strategic need regardless of any NIMBY or local considerations'.

After my Address Julie spoke to the student body of the benefits of membership of Engineers Ireland and of the support service which she has in place to answer any of the queries that the students may have.

We were very grateful for the very large number of students and indeed lecturers who turned up for the event. The largest lecture theatre in Bolton Street - named the Michael O'Donnell Room after one of my predecessors as President of Engineers Ireland - was practically full of people for the Address which was organised at relatively short notice.

November Council Meeting

The November Council Meeting was held on Saturday November 26^th when we had a good attendance. A number of important decisions were taken at this meeting.

We discussed and adopted the 2012 Budget recommended by our Finance Committee and Executive earlier in the month. Thanks to excellent management by the DG and Management team in Clyde road, we were able to adopt a balanced budget of income against expenditure despite considerable expense next year on the ongoing TV Advertising Campaign which is proving so successful in public reaction terms.

We discussed and approved the Membership Task Force Report chaired by my predecessor Martin Lowery. Our Membership Director Margie McCarthy presented the report which had been unanimously accepted by the Task Force - to continue with the present Rules of Membership as approved by Council in April 2011 and not to introduce a new 'Graduate' grade as a stepping stone to 'Ordinary' Membership MIEI.

We had a presentation from Paul Sheridan Education Manager and Caitriona Geraghty STEPS Manager on all of the educational initiatives currently being undertaken by Engineers Ireland. Tremendous progress has been made in implementing the Maths and Science Task Force Report in terms of integrating the recommendations particularly on Project Maths into the STEPS programme for Primary and Secondary Schools and a whole host of other initiatives including Engineers Week (February 27^th – March 2^nd next year) and Maths grinds for Leaving and Junior Certificate students.

We had a Staff Survey Presentation by our HR Director John Butler which will greatly inform our staff development and training programmes and to further improve interaction with the Regions and Sectors.

We filled a casual vacancy on the Council by secret ballot electing Stephen McIntyre of Google who will help us build our profile into the social media side of our Computing Division.

We agreed the venues for our Annual Conferences in 2013, 2014 and 2015 as Dublin, Sligo and Tralee. The Dublin Conference will dovetail with the European Young Engineers Conference to be held here in 2013.

In conclusion I thanked the members of Council for their ongoing voluntary effort in attending meetings in Dublin on a Saturday and noted that the work of Engineer Volunteers continues to inspire our staff who coordinate all of the annual activities.

Sustainability Conference in Lisbon

On November 29^th I was asked to represent the European Commission as Speaker at an Agenda 21 Sustainability Conference in Lisbon - 'Think Global Act Local'. This was in my role of Director of the EU Commission Secretariat for the European Green Capital City (EGCA) award (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/europeangreencapital/index_en.htm).

Similar to the 'European City of Culture', the EU Commission initiative is to find a different European city each year based on  current high environmental performance, ambitious goals for the future and how the city can act as a role model for Sustainable Urban Living. Only capital cities of European states or cities with a population of 200,000 or over may enter.

The inaugural EU Green Capital of Europe was Stockholm in 2010 and Hamburg this year in 2011.  Both were chosen in the first round of the competition in 2008.

Pictured outside the conference were (left-right) Joao Seiras Professor 

of Social Science Lisbon, PJ Rudden Director of European Green Capital Secretariat,

Livia Tirone CEO Tirone Nunes Architects Lisbon, Paula Cabral Cascais City Architect (Conference Chair), Chantal Vanoeteren Urban Planner University of Brussels, Nora Brugemann Project Manager at Wuppertal Institute Germany and Mario Alves Transport Engineer at University of Lisbon

Yesterday at a ceremony in Brussels EU Commissioner Janez Potocnik handed over the title of the European Green Capital to the Spanish Basque city of Vitoria Gasteiz (pop 235,445) which is the 2012 Winner.

The competition is very dynamic as this year for the first time we add two economic criteria - eco- innovation/job creation and secondly energy efficiency in accordance with the Resource Efficiency pillar of the EU 2020 Strategy Roadmap to better integrate new enterprise with sustainable development in accordance with the Lisbon Treaty objectives. The other criteria or indicators for the EGCA are climate change, sustainable transport, water consumption, waste management, air quality, noise, wastewater treatment and overall environmental management systems.

The Lisbon Conference was in fact held in the beautiful town of Cascais about half and hours drive along the coast north of Lisbon. The conference was opened by the Portuguese Secretary of State for Environment Dr Pedro Afonso de Paulo. My speech detailed the objectives of the European Green Capital award scheme and how each detailed application from each city is assessed and analysed by a Panel of Evaluation Experts appointed by the Commission and drawn from the 27 Member States. The Speakers were a combination of engineers, architects, town planners and social scientists drawn from municipalities, business and academia.

Dublin entered the first round of the European Green Capital award in 2008 and scored 16^th position out of a total of 35 cities who entered - well behind the shortlist of 8 cities from which Stockholm and Hamburg emerged. The other shortlisted cities were Amsterdam, Bristol, Copenhagen, Freiburg, Munster and Oslo. Dublin has however improved greatly in transport mobility and water conservation terms from its position in 2008 and may now re-enter the competition.

Chairman's Reception in Cavan County Council

On November 25^th I travelled to my native county where Cavan County Council decided to give me a Chairman's Reception. They have the view - not apparently contested by the Archivist in Engineers Ireland - that I'm the first Cavan born President of Engineers Ireland.

Whether true or not I have worked in the past and currently in a consultancy capacity for Cavan County Council most notably on the N3 Belturbet Aghalane Road Project which reopened the N3 Dublin Enniskillen Road after the Good Friday Agreement. I had the pleasure of meeting Senator George Mitchell who opened the new Aghalane Bridge at the Border - then named the George Mitchell Bridge in his honour.

Senator George Mitchell and PJ Rudden (1999)

Beside the Bridge stands the artistic feature of the warrior returning home and embracing his loved one with a broken sword and shield on the ground between them. The caption on the feature says 'Welcome Home - the War is Over'. On that day when the bridge was opened by Senator Mitchell in 1999 nobody knew for sure if the war was in fact over or not. It took ten more years to fully secure that Peace which was a monumental achievement of the NI political parties chaired by Senator Mitchell.

That was my first job with Cavan County Council. This new road project was progressed in record time due to its national and international significance and I was glad to be part of it. Its speed of execution was also a tribute to then County Manager the late Brian Johnson then County Engineer John Tiernan and Senior Roads Engineer Ger Finn. I have since worked with the Council mainly on the development and implementation of the North East Waste Management Plan together with Meath Louth and Monaghan.

I am very grateful to the Chairman of Cavan County Council Cllr Sean McKiernan and to County Manager Jack Keyes for the honour accorded me. I was presented with a painting by P J Lynch from the Johnson Library of 'A Voyage to Lilliput' which now hangs in Engineers Ireland at 22 Clyde Road for the rest of my term as President. I'm not sure what the significance is of the giant Gulliver arriving in Lilliput with shadows of civic and church buildings of Cavan in the background but it’s a beautiful painting which I will treasure forever. I was also thankful for the presence of Local Councillors Dessie Boylan, Charlie Boylan and Paddy Conaty.



Pictured in the Cavan County Council Chamber front Catheoirleach Cllr Sean McKiernan, P J Rudden President of Engineers Ireland, Celia Rudden ; back Jack Keyes Cavan County Manager, Maura Daly Chairman North East Region Engineers Ireland and John Power Director General Engineers Ireland

 Cavan County Council this year won the Local Authority of the Year award and the Engineers Ireland Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Public Service award for best public body on staff development and training. This is a great tribute to County Manager Jack Keyes who also led the Organising Committee for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann for a second successive year and again planned in 2012. This 3 year event will have brought a total new investment of €120million and a footfall of 250,000 each year to a small town of 10,000 people. You can then imagine how delighted I was that such a leading and enterprising Local Authority might have chosen me for their inaugural Chairman's Reception.

I was delighted that Engineers Ireland Director General John Power was there in Cavan together with Maura Daly Chairman of North East Region of Engineers Ireland together with John Brannigan Cavan County Council and last year's Chairman, also John Quinn, Dave McGowan and Paddy O'Rourke from County Meath. Also present were many current engineers of Cavan County Council including the Cavan Town Manager Ger Finn another very active engineer of the NE Region and who acted as Master of Ceremonies on the night.

I was honoured also by the presence of Dr Liam McNiffe Principal of St Patricks College and Donal Donahue Principal of Laragh National School. Also the Chairperson of the Board of Management in Laragh NS Bernie Power was there together with many family, friends and former classmates from both Laragh and St Pats.

Offshore Wind Conference in Dundalk

On November 24^th I was invited as President of Engineers Ireland to chair an Offshore Wind Conference in Dundalk which had a wide national and international attendance.

I was also asked to brief the conference on the Irish Scottish Energy Links Study - ISLES Study - which had been published on the previous day in Glasgow by the Energy Ministers of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

Pictured Left to Right: Scottish Acting First Minister John Swinney,
ISLES Project Director PJ Rudden, NI Energy Minister Arlene Foster,
Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing and Irish Energy Minister Pat Rabbitte.

The conference was kindly opened by the Mayor of Dundalk Cllr Marianne Butler. Cllr Butler spoke of the value of our offshore resources and the economic environmental and employment opportunities that proper exploitation of these can create. She rightly saw the job creation possibilities in the development of offshore wind in addition to the creation of a lower carbon economy.

The conclusion which I summed up at the end was that there were no technological barriers to the realisation of a significant offshore renewables industry. Also there was a greater cost benefit to connected offshore resources to a single subsea network than trying to connect individual wind farm projects to land. There were also increased interconnection possibilities with the UK. True! - the deep waters off our West Coast represents a considerable challenge in terms of ocean movement and depth and would require floating foundations which are still under development. Therefore by far the most viable offshore resources to initially connect are in the Northern and Southern Irish Sea where the waters are relatively shallow.



Speakers at the Conference were Dr Brian Motherway Chief Operating Officer SEAI, Cllr Marianne Butler Mayor of Dundalk, P J Rudden Conference Chairman and Andy Kinsella CEO Offshore at Mainstream Renewables



There is also a considerable export opportunity in addition to significant supply chain opportunities especially in our ports, harbours and marine support all of which can help our national recovery in investment and employment possibilities. The capital cost of exporting 16GW of offshore energy to the UK will be some €6billion for the subsea grid purely in the Irish Sea and North Atlantic between Ireland and Scotland.

The UK will need that additional energy by 2020 so there is a unique window of opportunity for Ireland if we can reconfigure our planning consent and regulatory regimes in line with Scotland and Northern Ireland as recommended by the ISLES Report. This report has now adopted as policy by the three Governments and sent to the EU Energy Commissioner for assessment. Hopefully it will be EU grant aided under the new 'Connecting Europe' initiative to drive towards a common energy market in Europe as a whole.

We have a challenge and an opportunity to drive this initiative forward. This is similar to what faced Thomas McLoughlin a young engineer who proposed to the then Government in 1926 that we should harness the River Shannon at Ardnacrusha for a new hydroelectric scheme which was the start of rural electrification. The project cost £5.2M in 1926 when the total state budget was £25M.

Midlands Region Annual Dinner Dance in Birr

On November 18^th I was a guest together with John Power our Director General with our partners at the Annual Midlands Region Dinner Dance which was extremely well attended at the County Arms Hotel in Birr. This Offaly town has a lot of Scientific and indeed Engineering history to recall.

The lands of Ely O'Connell centred in Offaly were planted by the Normans in 1619 and as part of this Birr Castle and 1,277 acres were granted to Sir Laurence Parsons, 1^st Earl of Rosse. In Birr Castle the 2^nd Earl of Rosse built the then world's largest telescope in the 1840s which has been wonderfully restored as a tourist attraction. Of equal interest to engineers, the Earl's son Charles Parsons invented the steam engine which helped drive the Industrial Revolution in the 19^th century.

Birr Castle Courtesy
of www.birrcastle.com

Birr is a fine town - a mix of early Irish heritage coupled with later Norman settlements. The Town Trail recounts from the time of St Brendan's early monastery where Brehon Laws were passed in 697AD to protect women and children. Much of the present town centre was planned and laid out in the 18^th and 19^th century by the Earls of Rosse with fine Georgian houses and attractive streetscape incorporating many churches of every denomination in Ireland.

The Midlands Dinner was hosted by the Region Chairman John Jordan Director of Wirtgen Ireland in the agricultural engineering business. Bord na Mona, Offaly County Council Athlone IT and Irish Tar and Bitumen were also well represented at the event. Indeed I was reminded of the important role that Peatland Development continues to play in the economic life of the Midlands by a beautiful presentation of Bog Oak from Ballinahown on the Offaly/Westmeath border which I least expected.

Pictured at the Midlands Dinner Dance were John Power Director General, Kieran Horgan Chairman Thomond Region, P J Rudden President, John Jordan Chairman Midlands Region and Prof Padraic O'Donoghue Chairman West Region

The event was a tribute to John and his very active Committee in the Region. I wish them continued success in the years ahead.

Creative Design in UCD Engineering

On November 16^th, I was invited by Dr Amanda Gibney of UCD Engineering to view exhibits in Creative Design by First Years in Engineering. I was also invited as President of Engineers Ireland to present the awards to the winning First Years students. These awards were sponsored by three firms - Arup, Deloitte and Innovation Delivery.

Left to Right: Conan Sherlock, Lisa Sherin, Sean Sheridan, Daragh Shirazi, PJ Rudden and Amanda Gibney

The assignments involved some 20 teams of 5 First Year members each looking at how information technology (IT) could help people in and around the city of Dublin to access information and services.

Each team performed research and field investigation to identify the parameters of different areas of study eg Eating Out in Dublin, Recycling Points in Dublin or Bus Shelter Interactive Technology. Each project was supervised by Innovation Consultant Keith Finglas and mentored by Masters students in Structural Engineering and Architecture (SEA). 

Keith Finglas (Innovation Consultant), Kelly-Ann Farrell (SEA Student),
PJ Rudden (President of Engineers Ireland), Amanda Gibney (UCD Lecturer), Louise Campion (SEA Student)

All of the projects tested the 'problem solving' skills of the student engineers as they commence their formative engineering education at the age of 17 to 18.

Innovative leadership is a module for 5th year students of Structural Engineering with Architecture. The aim of the module is to develop and improve leadership skills, problem solving abilities and lateral thinking skills by performing a number of practical assignments as well as tutoring 1st year students in design and innovation skills for team based projects.

'Bus Shelter Interactive Technology'.  Left to right: Amanda Gibney, Shauna-Anne Carney and Louise Carroll

UCD Engineering School is to be congratulated on this initiative to develop creative and problem solving minds in our First Year Engineering Students. Credit to Amanda, Keith and the students of the 5 Year Masters in Structural Engineering with Architecture.

Engineering and Technology Teachers in Carrick on Shannon

On November 12^th last I was invited to the Engineering and Technology Teachers Association (ETTA) in Carrick on Shannon to speak at their Annual Conference and present their Awards to over 100 students based mostly on their 2011 Leaving and Junior Cert results.

It was a very impressive event in terms of the number of school principals, teachers, parents and students attending from Second Level schools from all over the country especially for the Awards.

Before going there, I browsed the 2011 Leaving and Junior Cert Engineering and Technology papers to see how relevant these two subjects now are to modern day engineering. I found that they lean mostly towards physics, chemistry and computer technology all of which form a solid basis for up to date careers in mechanical, electrical and computer engineering.

Pictured left to right P J Rudden President of Engineers Ireland, Annalee O'Donovan from County Clare Best Overall Technical Graphics Junior Cert Higher Level and William Brett President of the Engineering and Technology Teachers Association (ETTA)

This year's conference was organised and hosted by members of Area 4 drawn from counties Sligo Leitrim Longford and Roscommon led by teachers John Joe McGuinness and Damien O'Rourke.

There are very close links between the ETTA in this Region and Sligo IT who gave a talk on Lasers. In fact the word 'laser' I discovered is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation (LASER).

In my short speech I emphasised the importance of these two Second Level subjects to the engineering profession as a whole and complimented the ETTA on their extensive award schemes which create obvious motivation for so many engineering students nationwide to compete for the awards.

L-R: Mr. Niall Cassidy Engineering Teacher Fingal Community School, 
Student John Donohoe “Young Engineer 2011” ,

PJ Rudden President of Engineers Ireland and Ms. Sharon McGrath Principal of Fingal Community School

I was particularly taken by the mechanical and electrical/electronic engineering standards of the national competition to make the Best Modern Snow Plough. Also very impressive was the design manufacture and testing of a Formula 1 Car by a team of students from Dundalk who went on to represent Ireland internationally. Either of these assignments would have tested the creative skills of any BE graduate in Mechanical Engineering from any of our universities or institutes of technology.

Awards went to students from all over Ireland from Cork to Donegal and from Clare to Fingal who were photographed with their proud parents and teachers.

Curlew Mountains Sculpture Courtesy of http://www.roscommoncoco.ie/

The next morning I explored the wonderful tourism product of Carrick on Shannon where Leitrim County Council have constructed a beautiful but very functional boardwalk over the River Shannon. I went on to view its many marinas with cruisers tied up in the riverside adjacent to the modest but modern Leitrim County Buildings. In recreational terms, there are even 'musical wires' supported from the river bed adjacent to the boardwalk which give off a different musical harmony depending on the unique strength and direction of the prevailing wind over the Shannon. Not far away on the N4 Curlews Road stands the metal sculpture of a Celtic chieftain on horseback which indeed graced the front cover of the ETTA 2011 conference brochure.

Irish Planning Institute Annual Dinner

On Friday November 11th I attended the Annual Dinner of the Irish Planning Institute as a guest of their President Brendan Allen.

It was an enjoyable night marked by the award of IPI Fellowship to the Dept of the Environment Community and Local Government Chief Planner John Martin. John has had a seminal role in the development of Irish planning law firstly with Dublin local authorities and in later years with the Department.

An Bord Pleanala was represented at the event by its Deputy Chairperson Karl Kent and Board Member Mary McMahon.

November Executive Meeting

On November 10th I chaired the monthly Executive Meeting of Engineers Ireland. We approved a draft Budget for 2012 to include the continuation of our TV Advertising Campaign on Chartered Engineers. This 2012 Budget still requires Council approval next Saturday.

We held an important discussion on how to react to the developing Building Control issue at Priory Hall which has been evacuated at Dublin City Council insistence due to an alleged 'fire risk'. We are taking expert advice in this regard and want to see whatever regulatory measures are necessary to ensure public safety is taken as a priority. It would appear that Architects and Surveyors are more in the firing line on this issue than are Engineers. Nevertheless we want to see the compulsory registration and regulation of Engineers also to ensure a high level of public confidence in our profession.

We finalised our future Membership Rules for Ordinary and Chartered Membership. This matter will also go to Council on Saturday. If agreed there, this will bring to a conclusion a discussion at Council concerning our Rules for Membership and our Routes to Titles which has lasted since 2005. It also enables us to finalise our new Byelaws currently in draft.

We also took a decision to hold the 2012 Annual Conference in Dublin, to coincide with the European Young Engineers (EYE) Society, who are coming to Dublin that year. This is fitting during the Presidency of Michael Phillips my successor and current Senior Vice President who is Dublin City Engineer and Director of Traffic.

Science & Industry - Working Together for Economic Recovery

On October 10th last, I attended a Business Breakfast by Science Foundation Ireland in Aviva Stadium where both Minister for Jobs Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton and Minister for Research and Innovation, Sean Sherlock, spoke.

It was attended by all of the leading research institutes in Ireland together with the Presidents of UCD and UCC Hugh Brady and Michael Murphy respectively.

Mary Colclough of CRANN TCD and PJ Rudden, President Engineers Ireland

Most prominent among the exhibitors were The Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) of Trinity College and CLARITY - Science Engineering and Technology (CSET) in UCD assisted by DCU and Tyndall Institute.

Nanoscience is the study of small scale matter. Nanotechnology looks to create future products which are lighter stronger cleaner and less expensive. You can thus see the value of these products. A 'nanometer' is one billionth of a metre smaller than the wavelength of visible light and a hundred-thousandth the width of a human hair!

Nanoscience views all matter from the same perspective regardless of whether it comprises the electrical circuits in a computer memory or the membrane that surrounds a human cell. The opportunities with nanoscience are immense touching all areas of human endeavour from advanced technologies and silicon chips to medical devices and new ways to diagnose and treat human disease. 

For instance CRANN is developing ways to manufacture computer chips using non-silicon materials. Also they are developing sensors for growth of micro-organisms such as MRSA in the nano-biology area. Nanoscience applies equally to all fields of science - physics chemistry and biology.

Minister Sherlock in his speech said that he was greatly encouraged by the deepening of the connectivity between Irish academia and industry as evidenced by the 44% increase in collaborations last year between SFI-funded researchers and industry. Praising the work of the Strategic Research Clusters he concluded 'we must continue the path that sees our ongoing research investment aligned to our economic needs, to satisfy the imperative to have research with consequences and growing levels of commercialisation and high value sustainable jobs'.

These encounters of mine with the Minister and the research community on behalf of Engineers Ireland greatly encourage me to continue my national tour of Research Institutes.

The President of UCC Michael Murphy invited me to Cork to view the important work currently being done by the Engineering Schools there including the Hydraulic and Marine Research Institute - an invitation I will take up in the months ahead and to visit the Tyndall Institute there also.

Institutes of Technology Lead the Way

Last week I was privileged to be asked to a Workshop with the Institutes of Technology (IoT’s) in DIT to give the Response from Engineers Ireland to the June 2011 Report on Engineering Graduates: Preparation and Progression.

The Workshop was opened by Tom Boland CEO of the Higher Education Authority. The Report was then presented by DIT Dean of Engineering Mike Murphy and Athlone Institute of Technology Head of Engineering Austin Hanley. I then concluded with a speech that represented the Engineers Ireland Response to the Report.

In summary the Report stated that graduates found Engineering to be a fulfilling career and that 80% of employers found that IoT level 8 graduates (with honours degree) were progressing at a similar rate to other graduates. However only 64% of respondents found IoT graduates to be adequately prepared in non technical skills such as communications and commercial approach.

Pictured at the launch of the Engineering Graduates: Preparation and Progression report were back row l-r: Denis McFadden, LyIT; Eugene Roe, DkIT; Dr Joe Harrington, CIT; John Murphy, IT Tralee; James Shivnan, report author. Front row l-r: Albert Byrne, WIT; Austin Hanley, AIT; Dr Mike Murphy, DIT; and Pat O'Donnell, IT Tallaght. Pic: Maxwells

I do not find these results surprising but am not aware of any other Irish engineering college(s) who have carried out such evidence based research on this issue and have published it - so well done Mike and Austin and the other IT’s nationally.

Tom Boland in his opening remarks set the Report in the context of the recently published (January 2011) "National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030" talked of the 50% increase in the numbers in Third Level Education from 1995 to 2011 and a further projected increase of 70% up to 2030. 'If we cannot spend our way out of this recession then we will be able to educate our way out of it' he said drawing attention to the increased educational focus on 'learning outcomes'.

In my Response and Closing Remarks I complemented the Institutes for their work and wondered where do we go from here. 'The two most important stakeholders in our Third Level sector - graduates and employers - have spoken and we must listen. Their voices in this report are clear enough' I stated.

I called for greater emphasis on the 4Cs which the better employers are seeking from graduates across the globe - critical thinking, creativity/innovation, collaborative/team building and communications. 'It is also fortuitous for third level that it was the engineering sector who led this research for it is engineering that is leading the recovery of the Irish economy in terms of design manufacture and export of pharma, biomedical and ICT products and services' I remarked.

I reminded the audience of the important role that Engineers Ireland are playing through the STEPS programme at Primary and Second Level and Innovative Student Engineer of the Year at Third Level in addition to the Maths Grinds for both Leaving and Junior Cert levels.

Finally I played the new Engineers Ireland TV advert to show what role Engineers play in Irish society - 'bring dreams to life for me and you'

2011 Excellence Awards

Last Friday night was the second year of our new Excellence Awards night when we celebrate all that is exciting innovative and interesting in Irish engineering. This year's event was held in the Four Seasons Hotel Dublin.

Master of Ceremonies was again Mary Kennedy of RTE who is a consummate professional with a public audience and a delightful conversationalist privately.



There were 7 awards in total - Volunteer of the Year, News Story of the Year, Education Award of the Year, Technical Paper of the Year, Chartered Engineer of the Year, Environmental Project of the Year and Engineering Project of the Year.

Mary Kennedy RTE, Terry Nolan Managing Director Shell,

Matt Cotterell Head of School of Engineering at C.I.T.,
PJ Rudden President Engineers Ireland

The story of the night was how shortlisted entries from the Cork Region ran away with 5 of the Awards led by the Mizen Head Footbridge which won two awards - Best Project of the Year and Best Technical Paper. The Project of the Year was a public vote and the news on the night was that it was a favourite project with the public by a large margin. The iconic new NUIG Engineering Building was in second place and the Peace Bridge in Derry in third place.

Mizen Head Footbridge

The News Story of the Year was won by the Irish Examiner for balanced reporting of Engineering Projects. This was well deserved when you consider how some of our more controversial engineering projects are reported by some sections of the media. I know of no instance where I could complain on the reporting balance by the Irish Examiner and that speaks myriads about their professionalism.

The Education Award went to Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) and Chartered Engineer of the Year from a shortlist of 6 went to Louise Connolly of ESBI and native of Cork.

PJ Rudden President Engineers Ireland, Louise Connolly Chartered Engineer of the Year,

John Power Director General Engineers Ireland

Environmental Project of the Year went to Portlaoise Sewerage Scheme another very innovative project.  Volunteer of the Year went to Michael Loughnane of ESB for his unstinting service to Engineers Ireland over many years particularly on the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Committee which I had the honour to chair for two years as Vice President.

In my own opening address I recounted 'the many sights I had seen' by going around the country and at events in Clyde Road including the Innovative Student of the Year in June, my visit to the opening of the NUIG Engineering Building in Galway and the CPD Company of the Year awards in October. Indeed I had also attended the official opening in early August by Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar of the Mizen Head Footbridge in August on the invitation of County Mayor Tim Lombard County Manager Martin Riordan and County Engineer Noel O'Keeffe. If you see the splendour of this bridge against the deep Atlantic from the local vantage points you will realise why it won the Project of the Year as it’s a truly incredible sight.

Obviously we can conclude that 'people love bridges' simply because they can see them above ground and consider them 'things of beauty'.

Equally beautiful in my view was the entry from Aerogen in Galway where a 'drug impregnated mist' was developed to give the necessary therapeutic administration of drugs to a premature baby in an incubator! This is real life saving biomedical engineering. In the words of Claire Lillis of Aerogen in our TV advert as she looked at the premature baby in the incubator 'This (engineering) was made for you and me'!

I ended by showing the new Engineers Ireland TV advert on Chartered Engineer  ..... 'Will You Come With Me ........ Making Dreams for You and Me' - starting with Jamie O'Meara BE an Agricultural Engineer and ending with Claire Lillis BE a Biomedical Engineer in Galway.