ACEI – ANNUAL DINNER – PRESIDENT’S SPEECH
27th March 2009

Mr. Michael McSweeney

Distinguished Guests, Members, Ladies and Gentlemen, What a year it’s been since our last Annual Dinner. None of us then could have envisaged or contemplated the dramatic and unprecedented changes that were about to take place across the world; changes that have also taken their toll here in Ireland. We look back with feelings akin to nostalgia at the Celtic Tiger years; The unprecedented growth in the construction industry presented massive challenges to Engineers in the design of major infrastructural and building projects.  We rose magnificently to those challenges and delivered projects of which we are all justifiably proud.

The Celtic Tiger became such a driving force that construction was approximately 24% of GNP in 2007. The average comparable percentage figure for the countries within the European Union was 12.5%. Now we realise how completely unsustainable it was.
Here are some stark figures for you.

Two years ago the Irish construction industry was worth €37.5 billion Last year it fell to €28 billion. This year the forecast is €17 billion, with an estimated €12 billion next year.  400,000 people earned their living in the industry two years ago. 219,000 people have already lost their jobs leaving us with 181,000 in employment in 2009.  By next year, the numbers of people working in the industry could be as low as 128,000.  
 
The unsustainable level to which the industry was driven was to a large extent caused by the irresponsible conduct and greed of the most senior management teams of our major Irish banks. And the Financial regulator / Department of Finance were also culpable. To what extent did they monitor a situation that was obviously spiralling out of control?  Did they take their eyes of the ball  -  did they ever have their eyes on the ball  !
Approximately 2000 of this Association’s membership –all good people - have had to be made redundant.  Redundancy has been very difficult but had to happen to protect the ongoing viability of the companies and continuing employment for remaining staff.  I have to say that in my forty years in Consulting Engineering, the worst experiences I have had are having to tell senior staff members that they were being made redundant.  It is dreadful to have to advise highly qualified and experienced Engineers who have performed their duties to the highest standards in the knowledge that they have to return home and advise their spouses and children of their situations and the awful consequences for whole families.  The experience in telling junior engineering, technical and secretarial staff of redundancy is also a dreadful ordeal.  Everybody has felt the pain. Directors have foregone dividends, salaries for Directors and Staff have been reduced by 20 – 30%, and shorter working weeks have been introduced.

I’ve spent most of my year as President of The Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland lobbying Government to take action to arrest the catastrophic decline in employment in the construction industry.  What was allowed to happen over the past number of years must never be allowed to happen again.  The Department of Finance must review in detail the massive abuses that took place, fully regulate the banking sector and put Business Integrity back on the agenda.

Most recently I’ve been working on our behalf along with a number of other sectors of the construction industry under the aegis of the Construction Industry Council on a detailed report about the current state of the construction industry; what needs to be done to stop the job losses and how to revitalise it. Together with the RIAI, the Society of Chartered Surveyors, The Construction Industry Federation, Engineers Ireland, IBEC and The Buildings Materials Federation, we presented our recommendations to the Taoiseach’s advisor on the 18th March. 

The Report puts forward innovative and practical proposals on how vital major infrastructural projects like water services, wastewater services and hospitals, schools, etc. can be financed over a number of years without the Government breaching EU guidelines or restrictions on borrowing.
We now call on the Taoiseach to take immediate action.
We want to keep our highly –educated, skilled and experienced engineers at home for the benefit of Ireland.

History shows us that when Government spends money, private sector money follows suit.  We hope this Government knows its history, because we all know that Ireland now faces her single greatest challenge since the foundation of the state.

Our economic independence and our survival hinge on how the private and public sectors react to the Government’s emergency budget on 7th April – measures which will be critical in determining all our futures. I know that my colleagues accept the reality of our economic crisis. Their challenge will be to cope with whatever is introduced in the budget to address the revenue shortfall. 

But even if the Celtic Tiger is dead, its spirit lives on in each of us. It’s that spirit of practical patriotism that will drive us forward, seeking solutions to the problems facing us and the situation we’re in.  Ireland has a long history of struggling against the odds to achieve independence – the enormous spirit, determination, efforts and sacrifices made by countless Irishwomen and Irishmen over the centuries to achieve independence should never be forgotten. I am convinced that this spirit of practical patriotism is ready to be roused and revitalised so we can create a more sustainable and controllable model that will work and bring work to all of us. I often think of a seanfhocal I used in my leaving Cert essay ‘’Siad na fir mhóra a bhainfidh an fomhar’.  It’s the men of vision who will reap the harvest’. Let’s take on that challenge.

We are all waiting to see how the public sector reacts to the budget but nobody can dispute the undeniable.

Ireland is in crisis – as never before. If we fail to show clearly that we are prepared to make sacrifices and if we fail to show clearly that we have the capacity to get ourselves out of this crisis, we will lose our economic independence and the IMF will take over and impose its own solution. 
One of the solutions could be to slash Public Service salaries.  How will the country fare in that situation?  

Our competitiveness is at an all-time low. Ireland is now second from bottom of the table as the least competitive country in the European Union while tens and tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs in the private sector.  On the other hand, the current reality for Public servants is that they are guaranteed security and defined benefit pensions, no matter what happens. In addition, the salary scales across the Public Sector in Ireland compare favourably and are approximately 20% higher on average, to those in the better off countries in the European Union.

I come from a generation where three of our four children had no option but to emigrate when they completed their third level education. It was a very difficult time for my wife Judith and for me, and particularly for our emigrant children.

Thousands and thousands of parents and their families are faced with the same dilemmas as we confronted in the 80s where they are forced to go into an international market place which is severely depressed due to the worldwide recession.

Now is the time for Public and Private Sectors to work together to harness this Irish indomitability that I mentioned earlier:  to accept whatever income and corporation tax increases, etc. are introduced in the Budget, and to work for the common good of our country both short and long term. We need to face the harsh reality together, make sacrifices for the common good, and put our country back on a sound financial basis in a competitive position in Europe and in the world.  It is my sincere hope that all sectors of the economy will invoke the true Irish fighting Spirit and do likewise. 
Our Grand Slam Team has shown us how – Declan Kidney summed it up after the game when he said our success has been based on    ‘honesty, trust, hard work and a willingness to go the extra little bit”

Our members are proud of the contribution we and Engineers in general have made to the development of Ireland.  Today as Engineers we stand ready and willing to do all we can to assist in every way possible in re-establishing the Irish economy on a sound and competitive basis.
Some of you may remember the story of Ardnacrusha.

In 1923, at the very early stages of our existence as an independent state, Tommy McLoughlin a young University College Dublin graduate engineer, working with Siemens in Germany saw the potential for the construction of a major hydroelectric scheme on the Shannon, at Ardnacrusha.  McLoughlin brought in Siemens on his ideas and eventually succeeded in getting the Irish Government to go ahead with and construct the project, which at the time was a massive investment by any standards.

That hydroelectric scheme I submit was the single greatest step in bringing Ireland into the 20th Century and enabling it to develop its overall potential. The 21st century equivalent is the enormous potential we have for the development of wind, wave and tidal power generation – we could become the single largest green energy exporter in Europe.

But we know that the potential to generate wind, wave and tidal power will never generate one kilowatt unless the work is put in to make it a reality. Government encouragement is not enough.  Someone has to co-ordinate the campaign and make it happen so that our natural resources can be maximised. ACEI consulting engineers are ready, willing, able and competent to advise Government on how our natural resources can be developed for the benefit of the people of Ireland and the “greening” of Europe. 

We welcome as our special guest Dr. John Boyd, President of FIDIC.   (International Federation of Consulting Engineers). FIDIC represents  Consulting Engineering Associations in 81 different countries including ACEI.    FIDIC has the promotion of Business Integrity and Sustainability on the top of its agenda and that is why as members of FIDIC we see ourselves as the trusted advisers to clients and society.  If there is anything that the ACEI Members don’t know about green energy, our FIDIC associates around the globe have the answers and will share them with us! 

As engineers we must not be daunted by the challenges ahead.  We must  remind ourselves that we stand on the shoulders of other Irish engineers who in much more difficult economic circumstances provided this  nation with  clean water, sewerage systems , electricity and the full range of buildings  which improved the quality of life, health  and life expectancy of  all the people living on this island. 

Tonight, I ask our engineering colleagues in the Public Sector to show leadership by putting expertise and experience in providing sustainable solutions at the top of their assessment criteria agenda for Public Procurement.  It’s one that can’t be ignored.  If you do this, you will ensure that innovation and creativity are encouraged and nurtured, particularly amongst our young and talented engineers.

I have always been fascinated by how the Chinese rationalise.  They have two meanings for the word ‘disaster’ – ‘crisis’ and ‘opportunity’.
Both public and private sectors need to see that where we currently stand is an unprecedented opportunity as well as the crisis that it undoubtedly is.  It’s an opportunity to dig deep and show the kind of leadership that will build a sustainable Ireland which will carry us through into the future.  Engineers the world over are addressing this problem.

Lieutenant General Henry Hatch from Washington DC spoke about it in his speech to consulting engineers at the 1991 FIDIC conference in Japan when he said: “As a world, as a nation, as a community, as a family, we’ve suffered from the consequences of unsustainable decisions and trade-offs passed down from previous generations.  Our children, and their children, deserve a future of security, stability, sustainability and perpetual prosperity”.

Now it is up to us – the engineers, the problem solvers, the facilitators, and stewards of sustainable development – to see that they receive their heritage.” 

So fellow engineers –whether you work in the private or public sector at this time of crisis, let us reawaken that Celtic Spirit once again, work together in partnership and bring on that sustainable Tiger.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh.
Or in the words used by the late great Dublin comedian Dave Allen at the end of his TV Shows “Thank you all – and may your God go with you”

Thank you

President
Mr. Michael McSweeney