Madam, – The misleading and ill-informed comments made by the Tánaiste (Front page, July 21st) in which she accused “engineers” as one of the professions yet to feel “the chill wind of economic reality” and her reference to the lack of competition within the engineering sector, is a matter of serious concern to us.
Given that employment is part of the Tánaiste’s ministerial portfolio, it is alarming that she appears totally unaware of the level of redundancies within the professions. In the consulting engineering sector alone, staff redundancies are currently in the order of 40-60 per cent across the board (representing a reduction of about 2,200 staff), predicted to reach levels of 70-80 per cent by the end of 2009 if conditions in the banking sector do not improve and the funding for the design element of the Government’s infrastructural programme for essential projects, such as water services and schools, is not put in place.
In addition to this, salary cuts of 20 per cent are commonplace across the industry, with a growing number of offices operating on a three-day week.
On the issue of competition, surely the Tánaiste must be aware that the procurement of engineering services for public projects is subject to the rigours of the EU procurement directive and that our companies have to compete against those from other EU countries for Irish projects.
In the current climate the situation is so serious that Irish engineering consultants (by drastically cutting salaries) are now competitively tendering for projects on a cost or even below-cost basis in order to maintain a workload for their existing staff. Furthermore, the Competition Authority undertook an investigation into the engineering profession in 2004 and the study concluded that the engineering profession operated in a competitive and transparent manner with no restrictions or barriers in place for those with the necessary qualifications and experience wishing to enter the profession.
In short, the consulting engineering profession is struggling to survive – not just as a result of the economic crisis – but by the non-payment of fees by public and private sector clients, and the waste of resources in the current public procurement process (where many projects after tender are being abandoned, shelved or put on hold). As part of the unprotected private sector, all of these issues are having a serious impact on the cashflow and ongoing viability of our firms.
While the Government has recognised that our national recovery is critically dependent on the development of a “smart economy” (the subject of the Tánaiste’s MacGill Summer School speech) these future plans cannot be realised without retaining the expertise and knowledge of the young talented engineers currently employed here. It is their skill that could help position Ireland as a leading nation with the necessary expertise to tackle global challenges such as climate change and help deliver sustainable solutions for the creation of a viable green economy. – Yours, etc,
ANNE POTTER,
Executive director,
Association of Consulting
Engineers of Ireland,
Merrion Square,
Dublin 2.