Regulation and Licensing of Professional Engineers

One of my stated personal objectives for my Presidency this year was to advance the regulation and licensing of Professional Engineers in Ireland.   I reflected on this issue,  as affects Software Engineering,  in my presidential address.




Over the summer months,  John Power (our Director General) has had an extensive series of meetings with policy makers,  politicians from various parties,  senior civil servants,  representatives from the insurance industry,  and some of our own members,  to gain feedback and reaction to the initiative.   He has also collected input from our sister organisations around the world as to the objectives and philosophy of their national regulation schemes,  if any.

This evening John hosted a meeting of a small number of our Chartered Members who have experience in this issue,  and who will report to Council in due course.   On the basis of feedback from John's discussions over the summer,  we are now preparing a formal submission to Government for later this year on how legislation might be brought forward in Ireland to regularise the role and responsibilities of Chartered Engineers in the economy and society at large.  Our current thinking is that such regulation and licensing would apply to all engineering domains (ie beyond the traditional civil and construction sectors) whenever,  and where ever,    the health and safety of the public,  and/or the value of material assets,  could be placed at risk.

If you have any suggestions on the issue,  please feel free to contact John or myself.