Almost400 applyfornew jobsscheme
ALMOST 400 people applied for a new initiative aimed at combating regional unemployment in the South East, according to the The Irish Medtech Association, the Ibec group which represents the medtech sector.
Irish Medtech Association, Skillnets, the Waterford Institute of Technology ( WIT), INTREO and IDA are collaborating on the special new upskilling initiative designed to meet needs of the medical technology industry in the South East.
The Process Technician programme will run for six months and will provide the opportunity for 16 students to take a focused selection of manufacturing engineering modules over three months at WIT followed by a three-month industrial placement with key employers including Boston Scientific, Bausch+Lomb, Waters, Schivo and Nypro.
It is funded by the Irish Medtech Association Skillnet.
INTREO reviewed 372 potential candidates from Tipperary, Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford, North Cork, Cork City, Carlow and North Limerick with 60 being invited for interview. Manager of the Irish Medtech Association Skillnet Pauline O’Flanagan said: ‘Ireland is the second largest employer of medtech professionals in Europe and has created more 2,000 jobs in the past couple of years.
‘With the sector showing continued strong growth, there’s never been a better time to start a career in medtech which employs 29,000 people in Ireland across 450 businesses.’
Department of Social Protection South East Area Manager Con Quinlan, said: ‘We are delighted to work with the Irish Medtech Association Skillnet, IDA Ireland and Skillnets to find people on the Live Register who would be suited to a future career working in the medical technology industry (and) the candidates are delighted with the career prospects they have been offered by these businesses and have shown great enthusiasm for the programme.
‘ The growing medical technology industry in Ireland needs skilled people, and we are delighted to help our members fill upcoming positions with students trained by WIT.’
WIT Head of Department of Lifelong Learning Neil Quinlan said:
“There are many more ways WIT can work with industry to develop training programmes for employees and for prospective employees.
This is one of the examples of how we work closely with industry and state organisations to meet real needs and help increase job creation in the south east region.” A handful of Wexford food businesses gave people a flavour of what the county has to offer at the Bite Expo in the RDS over the weekend.
Enniscorthy producer Clodagh Davis of Naturally Cordial was one of the producers showcasing her wide variety of fruit cordials on the day. It follows on from her success at last year’s event, when she put her products on display and subsequently received an offer from Dunnes Stores to supply their Simply Better Range.
Also at the event was Gorey company Wild About, who specialise in the production of foods made from wild seasonal ingredients including hips, sloes, berries, nettles and wild garlic. Along with handing out samples to the masses, they also got involved in some of the cooking demos on the day.
Bite Expo aims to showcase the best of Ireland’s artisan food and drink producers to audiences of over 20,000 in the run-up to the Christmas season. This year’s festival featured a range of winners from the Blas na hEireann Irish Food Awards, the biggest competition for quality Irish produce. It also gave festivalgoers the chance to try their hands at making gourmet recipes at the Bite Cook Along classes, while many big name chefs gave live cookery demos throughout the weekend.