Engineering has long been a cornerstone of the Irish economy, creating innovative solutions that make a real and positive impact on our society, our economy and our daily lives. But in our rapidly evolving society, with the key challenges of housing and climate change in sharp focus, engineering across all disciplines is under increased pressure to do more – but at the same time, the sector is struggling to attract and retain enough talent for the work needed.
According to statistics contained in Engineers Ireland’s industry report, Engineering 2025: A Barometer of the Profession in Ireland, which was published last Thursday, a third of engineering employers have stated that it took six to 12 months to fill a vacant engineering position last year. The report notes that engineers remain in short supply, with many engineering disciplines appearing on Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment’s critical skills occupation list.
While this is a headache for employers, companies and the government – which is under pressure to deliver housing and infrastructure – for those looking to build their careers in engineering, this is a time of great opportunity amid exciting developments.
A survey of more than 1,600 engineers in the Engineers Ireland’s report found that 84 per cent agreed there are plenty of job opportunities in the sector, underlining the strong opportunities that remain in Irish engineering.
“With most firms still planning to hire this year, and with a critical shortage of engineers in the labour market, engineering remains an extremely attractive industry in which to work,” said Damien Owens, director general at Engineers Ireland.
Shane Dempsey, director general of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland (ACEI), agrees there is plenty of opportunity for graduates and ambitious people in every aspect of engineering. “There’s a global skills shortage in engineering and consulting engineering. And there’s still an issue in attracting women into the sector. If they’re not doing honours maths and studying engineering, then we’ve got a naturally limited pipeline of talent.
“But the opportunities are incredible. We’re seeing lots of young people doing two years in Ireland, and then going off to Australia for a year or two – or sometimes even ten years. We’re even seeing larger consultancies establishing offices in places such as Dubai, Saudi Arabia or Australia to keep their talent within their company. Irish engineers are highly, highly respected internationally.”
Added to this is the fact that many engineers are working in fast-evolving, innovative and exciting areas.
“There’s a real focus currently on place making, particularly with local authorities – how you shape the urban environment to improve people’s lives. And some of the technical things that companies are doing to make practices more sustainable, as well as huge projects such as data centres – the innovation is absolutely phenomenal.”
While this may be an exciting time for ambitious professionals in the sector, significant challenges remain – and at the same time, the sector is under increased pressure to do more. This has resulted in a more pessimistic outlook than last year, according to Engineering 2025. Sixty-eight per cent of directors and managers in engineering firms stated in the report that they expect their firm’s financial position to improve in 2025, down six points from 2024.
“While engineering is a resilient industry and firms here remain confident of growth in 2025, it is likely that global political volatility and speculation about increased barriers to international trade have dented the sector’s optimism,” Owens said.
With engineering playing such a key role in Ireland’s major challenges – the shortage of housing and infrastructure, along with climate change and sustainability – successfully navigating these challenges remains key to success.
“I describe our sector as the one that will design the solution to Ireland’s housing, infrastructure and climate change crises,” said Dempsey. “To solve the housing issue, you must deliver infrastructure first, eg, pipes in the ground. And then you need to deliver both infrastructure and housing in a sustainable way. The sustainable piece is almost incalculable, but it has to be done right and it has to be done by us before the builders begin – but at the same time, we’re asked to increase our output, in some cases by 50 per cent in housing.
“We’re midway through the National Development Plan and the Planning Framework, so there’s the pressure to deliver on that, while increasingly we need to do our work in more sustainable and digitalised ways. This can increase costs – which is a challenge in itself.”
Within this issue is the growing cost of liability insurance. “We have a legal system that is based on joint and several liability so if anything goes wrong, you can be liable, even if it’s not your fault. As a result, our public indemnity costs are through the roof – this is the same right across the engineering sector. So there’s two challenges there – the increased cost of doing everything sustainably and getting this covered within the client’s payment, and the insurance costs in trying to be more innovative and taking risk.”
The shortage of talent and increased need for engineers’ expertise has resulted in the government competing with the deep pockets of private clients for work. Dempsey believes that the public indemnity issue gives the government the opportunity to make public tenders as attractive as private ones – in a very simple way.
“The ACEI has called upon the government to allow net contribution clauses in public sector contracts. This means that if a design or a consulting engineering firm is involved in a project and something goes wrong, they are only liable for the piece of the project that they are responsible for.
“We’re looking for the government to introduce this into their projects, taking a lead and setting an example that is risk-free and cost-free, essentially, to the taxpayer.”