Mr. John Jordan:

I am the president of Engineers Ireland and I am joined by Mr. Damian Owens, our director general. Mr. Cian O'Dowd and Mr. Keelan Keogh from our policy team are seated behind us. We are pleased to have this opportunity to address the committee today. Engineers Ireland is the representative body of engineering professionals in Ireland, with over 30,000 members working across every sector of engineering at all stages of their careers. Our organisation also carries statutory responsibility for the awarding of the title "chartered engineer" pursuant to the provisions of The Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland (Charter Amendment) Act 1969. As the committee members might be aware, chartered engineers are permitted to exercise certain reserve functions in law, such as the performance of the roles of assigned certifier and design certifier under the Building Control Acts. An engineer may obtain the title of "chartered engineer" if he or she can demonstrate competence and experience that marks him or her out as a leading practitioner. Engineers from all sectors play a vital role in delivering the kinds of infrastructure and their supporting systems that Ireland will need to provide a high quality of life for those living here and to remain an attractive destination for investment over the coming decades.

Unfortunately, Ireland's infrastructure today lags behind many of our comparators. The International Institute for Management world competitiveness ranking 2025 places Ireland seventh in the world in terms of overall competitiveness but 44th in terms of infrastructure, with the management of water infrastructure, the density of road and rail networks and energy infrastructure singled out as being of particular concern. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has stated that Ireland’s capital stock, a measure of its overall infrastructure, is now 25% lower than the average for a high-income European country. The view of this country’s engineers is largely the same. Our recent report, Engineering 2025, found that 79% of engineers here view Ireland's infrastructure as either mediocre or poor, with housing, transport, energy and water and flooding infrastructure all regarded as problem areas.

Engineers encounter a range of challenges when working on infrastructural projects but they may be described using two words, "uncertainty" and "scarcity". Unfortunately, much of Ireland’s infrastructure pipeline has been subject to significant and repeated delays. A clear example of this is the greater Dublin wastewater drainage scheme, a project of pivotal importance to Dublin’s development. Uisce Éireann has warned it may be unable to grant new connections to the wastewater network in parts of the greater Dublin area until 2028 given current constraints in wastewater treatment capacity. An application for planning permission for the project was first submitted in 2018 to what was then An Bord Pleanála. It was subject to repeated delays. In July this year, An Coimisiún Pleanála finally granted permission for this project. It was confirmed last month, however, that yet another judicial review was being taken against the decision, further delaying construction. Given the estimated timeline, four years for the construction of the project, it is certain that the development of housing and other infrastructure in the Dublin area will be significantly constrained as a knock-on effect. The delays experienced here are, unfortunately, symptomatic of Ireland’s planning system and other forms of vital infrastructure, from housing to roads to energy, suffer as well.

This serious uncertainty dogging the pipeline of infrastructure in Ireland exacerbates existing resource problems and inhibits the ability of those working in the construction industry to support development projects. Engineers are already in short supply and a wide range of engineering disciplines are listed on the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment's critical skills occupation list. These include civil, structural, site, electrical and project engineers.

SOLAS also notes that skills shortages exist in these areas, as well as other forms of engineering. Research by ourselves indicates this country will need more than 22,000 additional engineers over the course of the next decade to meet the demands of various sectors. Furthermore, 85% of engineering employers have stated it has recently taken them more than three months to fill roles, while 22% have stated it has taken them more than a year, given supply constraints in the market. Such skill shortages play a major role in impeding progress across infrastructural projects. However, measures may be taken to address this issue. Recent revisions of the primary school curriculum to include more STEM content are welcome. However, the provision of greater information and training to teachers and guidance councillors on engineering careers, a widening of apprenticeship routes into engineering and the greater promotion of engineering careers at Government level, especially to girls and young women, will be pivotal to building the pipeline of engineering talent necessary to deliver key infrastructure over the coming years and decades.

Similarly, expanding the number of engineering roles within local authorities could allow for inspections and oversight of construction projects nationwide. This would further instil vital engineering insight across the local government sector. Additionally, public funding for the fifth year of study of integrated engineering masters degrees would allow engineers to apply for the title of chartered engineer more quickly, expanding the number of chartered engineers available to support construction projects. Engineers Ireland supports the delivery of the national development plan and will continue to engage with a wide range of stakeholders on how infrastructure in Ireland can be delivered.

Through our participation in the Washington, Sydney and Dublin accords, we facilitate international recognition of engineering qualifications. Allowing for greater mobility of engineering professionals, these recognition agreements provide quality assurance of the qualifications of engineers coming to Ireland to work, thus, allowing greater access to Ireland to an international market of professionals, as well as helping Irish-trained engineers gain experience abroad. Such agreements can assist the delivery of the national development plan by facilitating the mobility of engineering talent but certainty is needed in the pipeline of development to allow engineering firms and others to plan effectively. Engineers are pivotal to designing and building the infrastructure this country needs. Simply put, the more barriers to development that can be removed, the more engineers and other professionals can do to deliver this vital infrastructure quickly.