Madam, – I am writing to express my utter disgust at Mary Coughlan’s despicable comments on the professions (Front page, July 21st) regarding the fact that engineers and architects have not felt the “chill winds of economic reality” to date.
As a qualified civil engineer, I work for a consultancy that has let go a huge number of engineers. We have taken a 10 per cent pay cut and some people are on a three-day week. This is typical of all engineering consultancies in Ireland. We are feeling the “chill winds”, I can assure you.
When we are let go, we have absolutely no possibility of getting a job in Ireland and a fairly limited possibility of getting a job abroad. Nearly all engineering consultancies are paying only statutory redundancy – which might allow us to survive for about two months before we have to join the social welfare queues and default on our mortgages.
There appears to be a kind of contempt among media and politicians for those of us – professionals – who have gone to college, studied hard, secured employment in technically difficult and high- pressure jobs and contributed to the economic wealth of the country. We are the people upon whom this so-called smart economy (ha!) will have to rely. Contempt for us is misguided and pointless. – Yours, etc,