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Nearly 40pc of engineers think the Irish economy will recover
by 2011, according to research carried out by Ipsos MRBI.
If the Government tackles infrastructural challenges across
areas such as water, roads, broadband and the national grid,
it could well bring Ireland's recession to an end faster and
get growth going sooner, according to John Power, Director
General of Engineers Ireland.
Speaking at the launch of Engineers
Week 2010 by An Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Mr Power said
that, while it was clear the Government was stretched financially,
Ireland's infrastructure had to be improved to fully prosper
when the globally economy improved. "It is encouraging to
see such positive sentiment in the engineering industry regarding
Ireland's future.
"The Ipsos MRBI findings also indicate that nearly 50pc
of engineering firms surveyed felt they could keep staff levels
at the same level in 2010 - again very positive when compared
to the job losses in other sectors. But there is still an
acute infrastructure deficit in Ireland. I can not over-emphasise
the fact that it is vital that we invest heavily in infrastructure
to fully prosper from the global economic upturn.
"As well as addressing this infrastructure deficit,
the investment will also provide employment. If this does
not happen, critical skills and expertise will be lost with
more jobs losses. We fully understand the financial constraints
within which the Taoiseach and Government must operate. But
it's about directing funds to where maximum return is provided
for Ireland - such as across water, roads, broadband and the
national grid."
Mr Power also said that Ireland has a great opportunity to
differentiate itself from other countries by totally committing
to a framework of quality and standards.
"The total failure in the financial and banking sectors over
the last two years has, in effect, given us a blank canvass
and platform to utterly re-shape our economic model in this
respect.
"Engineering has a critical role to play here in terms
of how it behaves as an industry and is already taking a lead
with regard to ensuring the highest standards are adhered
to. This is happening through our drive to introduce regulation
of the profession to ensure the highest quality of engineering
standards as well as across our Continuing Professional Development
schemes which ensure that qualified engineers keep pace with
developments in their chosen field.
"However, we have over 200 companies who would love
to benefit from CPD, but we can't reach them because of a
lack of funds."
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