Team Ireland have returned home after a successful showing at the WorldSkills Competition in Russia. Ireland’s team brought the advantage of their good IT skills to win them one of the gold medals and the Best in Nation medal.
At the WorldSkills Competition 2019, the Irish team, which was made up of 17 young apprentices, trainees and students took home 4 gold medals, 1 bronze medal, a Best of Nation medal and 7 Medallions for Excellence. As a relatively small team they outdid themselves, achieving an amazing 10th place in the world overall.
The WorldSkills Competition, which is held every two years, is the world’s largest professional education event. Ireland’s official member of WorldSkills is the Department of Education and Skills, which became the seventh member in 1956. WorldSkills has now over 80 members. Ireland has participated in all of the 37 WorldSkills Competitions held since 1957.
Gold went to Olivier Bal-Petre in the category of Cloud Computing. Olivier also won a ‘Best of Nation’ medal for the highest scoring competitor from Team Ireland.
Team Ireland members competed against the clock over the course of the four-day event, under the watchful eyes of their peers, their fellow competitors from over 60 countries and the public. The competitors took part in diverse range of skills competitions including newer areas such as Cloud Computing and Building Information Modelling.
The success of the Ireland team demonstrated the importance of good digital skills for all, including students. All jobs in today’s economy are digital jobs, and the future workforce can ensure success with good quality training. ICDL for students and adults helps to develop quality digital skills for all.
The Irish team at WorldSkills come from Donegal, Waterford, Cavan, Kerry, Wexford, Offaly, Kildare, Galway, Longford, Dublin, Limerick, Roscommon, Kilkenny and Cork. The team trained in TU Dublin, institutes of technology (CIT, LIT, WIT, DKIT, IT Carlow & AIT) and education and training board colleges (Kerry ETB, Waterford Wexford ETB, Limerick Clare ETB, Donegal ETB, Dublin Dún Laoghaire ETB) as well as Shannon College of Hotel Management. Having the support from their employers and training providers really enabled and encouraged these competitors to showcase their talents on such a huge international stage.
Further information on WorldSkills and Ireland Skills Live is available at www.worldskills.org and www.irelandskillslive.ie
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