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.

Royal Town Planning Institute Conference - Building Strategic Infrastructure

On Wednesday last October 12th I was invited to speak at the Royal Town Planning Institute conference in Dublin - 'Building Bridges - Planning for Strategic Infrastructure Development'.

The topic I was given was 'Towards a new National Policy for Waste Infrastructure'. Other sectors covered were Power Transmission Lines, Wind Energy, Environmental Risk and Public Communications.

Chairing the conference was Des Cox  of Eirgrid and Chairman of the Irish Branch of RTPI and Special Guest Speaker was RTPI President Richard Summers who is Head of Planning at the The Landscape Partnership in UK.

Des Cox of Eirgrid and Chairman of the Irish Branch of RTPI 

The constant theme of the speakers was in favour of 'plan led' strategic development with which Engineers Ireland fully agree. I based my presentation on the State of Ireland Infrastructure Report published by Engineers Ireland in May of this year. This Report sets out the Engineers Ireland policy on waste management.

The priority themes in the report were support for the continuation of Regional Waste Management Plans but better coordinated on a national basis. Also the need to ensure that integrated waste plans are implemented - therefore the ownership of waste should be vested in local authorities and these authorities to direct waste to strategic national and regional facilities on the higher tiers of the EU Waste Hierarchy as currently happens in most other EU countries at present.

All the speakers spoke of the need to fast-track 'national strategic infrastructure'. In this regard, in my speech I identified the recommended Waste to Energy plants in the North East and Dublin Regions as capable of substantial landfill diversion to satisfy the ambitious targets in the EU Landfill Directive. The Landfill Directive has been implemented in other leading EU countries though a similar integrated approach.

The urgent national environmental imperative is to further reduce our landfilling from the current near 60% by the faster introduction of the waste to energy plants authorised by the current regional plans.

Naturally the landfill/MBT contractors in the Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA) don't accept that but the current Minister appears determined to confirm and correctly implement EU and national policy in this regard. Engineers Ireland very much support the Minister's resource based waste policy and look forward to early implementation.

September Executive Meeting

The Executive meet last Thursday to do the monthly review of Engineers Ireland finances which are relatively healthly.

We also discussed the proposed Communications Campaign for Chartered Engineer due to commence on radio and TV later this Autumn and to run for at least 2 years.

I don't wish to spoil the viewer's or the listener's fun in terms of the lyrics and theme music which will be used. Suffice it to say that it will be impactful and will showcase all the main Engineering Sectors in Ireland using some of our engineering members as role models.

This will be part of the public profile raising by Engineers Ireland to show the relevence of the Chartered Engineer in modern Irish society.

We also got an update on the Review of our Bylaws to be completed by the end of the year.

Finally we reviewed the very many thanks and compliments sent by Leaving Cert students to Engineers Ireland following receipt of their Results last month. 'Thank you for the free Maths grinds which helped me get my grades' was the general sentiment expressed. This again is Engineers Ireland doing something tangible and sustainable going forward. Better to be doing something  than simply talking about it!

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Last night I felt very honoured to be elected President of Engineers Ireland which is the authentic voice of Engineering in Ireland. Last year we celebrated our 175th anniversary so I have 'big shoes to fill'. In terms of my predecessors I'm reminded of what Martin Luther King Jnr said 'If I can see farther than others, it’s because I'm standing on the shoulders of giants'.

In my inaugural speech I tried to capture the sense of Hope we must have as we help to Engineer our way out of the current severe recession particularly in the construction industry. As Engineers, there is much we can contribute to the world of Design, Creativity and Innovation in diverse areas like energy, ICT, biopharma and biomedical engineering. These sectors of engineering in Ireland are not impacted by the recession and are currently mainly responsible for the success of our export led growth.

Speaking of Design I was privileged to be present yesterday morning for the launch of the Dublin bid to become World Design Capital 2014. The bid was branded as 'Pivot Dublin'. The breakfast event was hosted by Lord Mayor Gerry Breen and the guest speaker was Minister for Enterprise and Jobs Richard Bruton. Both lend support to the ambitious bid which is supported by design professionals including Engineers Ireland.

Yesterday morning I was happy to attend the Engineers Ireland conference on Offshore Wind Energy where leading companies in the market shared their experience and ambition to build a viable subsea export network of renewables including Wind Wave and Tidal resources. I very much support this ambition for a low carbon energy infrastructure.

Just before our Annual General Meeting last evening the outgoing President Martin Lowery launched the State of Ireland Infrastructure Report. This excellent report was completed by our members on the recommendation of our Cork Region and assisted by our Civil Division. It is hoped to issue this Infrastructure Progress Report on an annual basis with respect to Energy, Transport, Water, Waste and Communications.

We also welcomed our new Junior Vice President Dr John O'Dea Managing Director of Crospon a leading biomedical manufacturing company based in Galway. John is one of 4 people shortlisted this week as Entrepreneur of the Year. Our Senior Vice President this year is Michael Phillips, the Dublin City Engineer and Director of Traffic, who takes over as President from me in a year's time. I am also grateful that Martin Lowery as Immediate Past President will remain on the Officer/Presidential Team for another year.

Finally I want to sincerely thank the outgoing past President Dr. Chris Horn for his selfless service over four years on the Presidential Team. It was Chris (ex-CEO of Iona Technologies) who inaugurated the first President’s Blog, whose format I am now following.


My inaugural speech in progress

Welcome

Welcome to my blog as the 2011-2012 President of Engineers Ireland.

The main purpose of this blog is to capture my activities for Engineers Ireland, what I am doing on a day-to-day basis. I intend that the primary audience for this blog are the members of Engineers Ireland (http://www.engineersireland.ie/), and the wider public interested in the Engineering profession in Ireland.

All the views expressed in this blog are my own and not necessarily the views of Engineers Ireland.

PJ Rudden, Pj.Rudden@Rpsgroup.com