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The new president of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, Gerard O'Farrell - the group director for the car division of the OHM Group - has called on the country's motor trade to employ more skilled people going forward.
Mr O'Farrell, elected SIMI's president at the organisations AGM in Naas, Co. Kildare, said there was a cross-sector skills shortage which members of SIMI were reporting, adding: "We need to attract the very best people and show them the benefits our industry has to offer, train them to the highest standards and continue to develop their career paths in order to retain them."
He added that the area of apprentice training is a key focus for the society, which will look to develop and deliver solutions to avoid even more serious problems in the future.
And, further, Mr O'Farrell said: "The motor industry is very conscious that effectively we are operating in an ecosystem, where a change implemented in one policy area can have an unplanned knock-on effect in another. There has been a lot of anti-diesel sentiment in the media recently but 70 per cent of the newest cars on the road are diesel, their purchase having been encouraged by previous state policies.
"If the values of those used cars were to fall further, in addition to the Brexit impact, we will reduce the ability of their owners to be able to change for a cleaner low or zero emissions new car. In my view, it is crucially important that our used car values remain as strong as possible, Brexit not-withstanding, to protect consumers' investments and in the knowledge that trade-in values are the key to ensuring that we can renew the national fleet.
"We need to increase the penetration of both zero- and low-emitting cars as an even wider choice becomes available. In this very complex environment, SIMI will continue to work very closely with all key stakeholders to provide a stable and sustainable environment in which to transit to a more sustainable future for transport in Ireland."
Anything else?
Mr O'Farrell also remarked that the motor industry is on the cusp of exciting technological advances which will reshape customers transport needs and how they use cars in the future. And that is why the skilled workers are needed to drive the industry forward in years to come: "These changes will provide huge opportunities, from the development of these new technologies to the creation of new business expertise and job opportunities. The people we will require for the future will need to be at the cutting-edge to deliver these hugely exciting changes. As an industry, we need to start our recruitment drive now to ensure that we can avoid serious skills shortages in areas that will be crucial to deliver for us for the state and for the environment.
"Ireland is very well placed to become a centre of excellence in automotive software engineering with our young, highly educated workforce and IT skillset. The roll-out of second-generation electric and hybrid vehicles, a renewed investment plan to expand the charging network and the exciting focus on autonomous driving and connectivity will all start to really take root in the next few years."