Honours & Awards 2010
President’s Address
Awardees, Sponsors, Ladies & Gentlemen; I would like to welcome you all here this evening to our Annual Honours and Awards Ceremony which is conducted to acknowledge and encourage excellence for those training for careers in Instrumentation, Systems and Automation, and also to express our thanks and recognition to those who have led the way in the pursuit of their careers in those fields.
Education & Training continues to be a Cradle to Grave concept, and one which ISA embraces from its founding ethos. Access to education is not freely available across the whole of this world. Therefore one cannot over emphasise the value of education and on which I truly believe has always rested the future of mankind.
Being educated places a large responsibility on one to pass on the knowledge gleaned to others during our life journey. However the full appreciation of this gift only becomes more apparent towards the end of ones life. In that process the role of educator oscillates between our parents, school teachers, sporting and social leaders, college lecturers and work place mentors to varying degrees as we evolve through life with the resulting impression that we are at once and always both educator and student.
Irish industry has been a bedrock sponsor of ISA Ireland Section activities throughout the past thirty years of our existence. We are delighted that this support has continued for this ceremony and that each sponsor is represented here this evening, clearly demonstrating industry awareness and support for promoting and awarding excellence. I would like to pay a special word of thanks to this evening’s sponsors:
- DPS Engineering
- RPS Group
- O’Sheas Electrical
- Valve Services
- Shering Plough, (Brinny)
- Jansen Pharmaceuticals
I am honoured to be here in my capacity as President of ISA Ireland Section and to present the awards which represent a tremendous achievement for the recipients and especially to be so honoured in the presence of their mentors and their peers.
This year we have five awards, four of which have been nominated by Third Level institutions and one from the membership of our Section. Therefore I would like to specifically welcome the award recipients and their families
To conclude I would like to pay a special word of thanks to our organising committee, to the judging panel, the participating colleges and finally to UCC for allowing us to use this very historic Common Room this evening.
Thank you all for attending and supporting this auspicious function. I hope you all have a very relaxed and enjoyable evening as we celebrate excellence in our industry.
I would like to leave you with these words from William Butler Yeats:
Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.
David O’Brien
ISA Ireland Section President
Craftsman Award
Recipient: Mr. Eoghan Geary, Co. Waterford.
Nominated by: Mr. Jim Doyle, Lecturer, Institute of Technology Carlow.
Degree Award
Recipient: Mr. Gary O’Halloran, Mallow, Co. Cork.
Nominated by: Dr. Liam McDonnell, Head, Department of Applied Physics & Instrumentation, Cork Institute of Technology.
Honour’s Degree Award
Recipient: Ms. Nichola Walsh, Dublin
Nominated by: Dr. Enda McGlynn. Department of Science, Dublin City University
Post Graduate Degree Award
Recipient: Mr. Ciaran Peyton, Swinford, Co. Mayo
Nominated by: Professor Loraine Hanlon. School of Physics University College Dublin
Instrumentation Pioneer Award
Recipient: Mr. Peter McDonald, Cork
Nominated by: Mr. John Sweeney and Mr. David O’Brien