Each week our Sector Spotlight Series will showcase and celebrate the achievements of our Regions, Divisions and Societies.  In this week’s Sector Spotlight, Barry Hyland, Chairperson of the North East region, highlights the region’s role in the North East.

The North East region is a hub for members based in Cavan, Louth, Meath and Monaghan, representing all sectors of the industry, providing local CPD and networking events for engineers.

Members of the North East region committee are pictured with Past President Peter Quinn at the Future Energy Forum at DKIT.

I am very humbled and honoured to have served as Chair in the North East region for the past two years. We are a vibrant region, with a very active committee, dedicated and engaged members and a strong relationship with Clyde Road. Annually, the North East region holds between 15 to 20 events, ranging from site visits, presentations and technical papers to inspiring future generations of engineers through hosting STEPS events in the North East. Some of our recent standout events have included:

Annual Sponsorship of the Peter Rice Engineering Award at DKIT

David Hatchett, Control System Engineer at Combilift & Vice Chair of Engineers Ireland's North East region is pictured with 2019 Peter Rice Award Winner, Daniel McWall.

In December 2019, Daniel McWall, a Co Armagh graduate of the Electrical and Electronic Systems was announced as the winner of the Peter Rice Awards at Dundalk Institute of Technology. The annual awards ceremony, sponsored by the North-East region, honours the renowned Dundalk-born engineer, Peter Rice who worked for Ove Arup on major global projects such as the Centre Pompidou, Lloyd’s of London, the Louvre Pyramid and Sydney Opera House.

Annual Gala Dinner

Pictured: Vice President Maurice Buckley is pictured with North East region Chairperson Barry Hyland at the North East region Gala Dinner at The Headfort Arms in Kells, Co. Meath 

With over 50 guests in attendance, this year our Gala dinner took place at The Headfort Arms, Kells. We received excellent sponsorship for this event from local companies, including: O’Reilly Brothers Ltd, Colas Ireland, Boliden-Tara Mines, Combilift, HB Minipiling, Kelly Bros, Flexitech, Bruton Consulting Engineers and Irish Tar and Bitumen. On behalf of the region, I would like to thank each of these companies once again for their continued support and we look forward to welcoming you to our next Gala Dinner in 2021.

Future Energy Forum 2019

 (L-R) Barry Hyland, Chair of Engineers Ireland’s North East region, Martin McVicar, Co-Founder of Combilift, Peter Quinn, Past President of Engineers Ireland, Eamon Dillane and Jonathan Jennings of Glen Dimplex are pictured at the Future Energy Forum, held in association with Engineers Ireland’s North East region.

Energy leaders from EirGrid and ESB joined Martin McVicar, founder of Combilift and Eamon Ryan TD, leader of the Green party, to discuss the future direction of energy supply and demand at the Future Energy Forum at Dundalk Institute of Technology on Thursday, 16 May.

Held in association with the North East region and attended by more than 100 engineering professionals and business leaders from the northeast, the forum provided delegates with the opportunity to hear from Mark Foley, CEO of EirGrid and Marguerite Sayers, Executive Director, Customer Solutions at ESB, Eamon Ryan TD, Leader of the Green Party, Denis Duff, co-founder of Better Environment with Nuclear Energy (BENE), Martin McVicar, Co-Founder of Combilift, Jonathan Jennings of Glen Dimplex and Eamon Dillane.

Collaboration

In the North East we are always open trying new ideas, new methods, through virtual meetings, webcasting or face-to-face. Central to our 2020 strategy was the objective to reach out to other regions, societies, divisions, organisations and sectors, building networks and relationships for our members and in our profession.

Pictured: Members of the North East region who joined a site visit to Irish Cement in May 2018.

In addition, we set targets to grow and develop our many industry partnerships in the North East to support and facilitate CPD and professional development. We are currently doing so by organising innovative and varied site visits, presentations and additional training courses with signatory companies in the region such as Kingspan IKON Innovation Centre, Combilift, Boliden, Indaver, DkIT, Irish Cement and Build Wright to name but a few. Relationships with the Midlands and Northern Region have also been built-upon over past number of years, through collaboration and by hosting joint events, for example site visits to Mount Lucas Windfarm and the Irish Manufacturing Research Centre Site visit.

This continues to be our focus as we journey through this unpredictable year into next.  Thanks to our excellent committee, I am absolutely confident that we will emerge stronger and more focussed to serve the needs of our North East members and play an even greater role on the Engineers Ireland national stage. 

To find out more about the North East region, visit: https://www.engineersireland.ie/Professionals/Communities-Groups/Regions/North-East