Friday, August 7, 2009

More responses to the "chill winds" comment

Not sure how I missed this:
Sean O Laoire's letter to the Tanaiste.

Engineers Response to the Tanaiste's comments

The response of Engineers Ireland to the Tanaiste's choice comments are below. This was sent out to all members.

While I applaud them for lobbying the Minister and making their position clear, I think they may have missed an opportunity. They took the opposite tactic to the RIAI, but maybe a little of both would have been better? Perception is key, and perceived inaction can be as damaging as actual inaction.


Dear _____,

You may have heard or read An Tánaiste Mary Coughlan T.D.’s comments last week regarding certain professions, including engineering, increasing their competitiveness and delivering better value for the benefit of the economy
You may have also read the subsequent letters from architects and engineers that have been published in the national media since.

As the representative body of all engineers in Ireland, we have regular meetings with Government ministers where we keep them updated on issues within the profession. Just 36 hours after the Tanaiste’s comments, I met with Minister for Labour Affairs Dara Calleary T.D. to brief him on our CPD Accredited Employer Scheme, the contribution that engineers make to Ireland’s economic well being and the key role that the profession will play in achieving the Government’s objectives in relation to the Smart Economy. I showed the Minister the clean bill of health letter we received from the Competition Authority following their analysis of our Profession as well as speaking with him about our belief that the regulation / licensing of the profession is necessary in order to maintain standards. I also took the opportunity to express my dismay at An Tanaiste’s remarks and our disappointment that she was so poorly informed.
I did stress to Minister Calleary that we will engineer our way out of this recession.

We have chosen not to respond to the comments in the newspapers via the letters pages of the national media nor write directly to An Tanaiste at this time, primarily because of the timing of our meeting with Minister Calleary. We have a plan in place that will help us achieve our overall goals and we believe that we should stick to this path, using private meetings with ministers to further our cause. However we will continue to use the media, in all its facets, when the occasion requires and circumstances allow.

I do hope this clarifies our position.


John Power
Director General
Engineers Ireland