Thursday, 4 July 2024
On June 27th, Marine Ireland Industry Network (MIIN) attendees were welcomed to the Tara Hotel in Killybegs for a pre-event networking reception. This well attended evening included short introductions by Liam Curran about MIIN and the work we do. As well as an introduction from Karl Bonner of the Killybegs Marine Cluster (KMC), who we would like to thank again for his and his members input into the #MIINinDonegal event. We also welcomed a short briefing from Kerry Muldoon about the Northern Ireland Maritime and Offshore (NIMO) network, as well from HATCH’s Wayne Murphy about the next Innovation Studio he is running in Q3 this year.
Marine Ireland Industry Network (MIIN) and the NIMO Network look forward to strengthening our links in the future, and this relationship was nurtured by Liam and Kerry taking the opportunity to swap network directories on the night.
Transfer of Skills
Friday morning saw over 35 attendees join us, and the event kicked off with the 1st of two fireside chats. The first discussion topic was around transfer of skills, with industry professionals and locals Kevin Boyle and Karl Rose participating. Both Kevin and Karl shared their real-life experiences of working in both the fishing and offshore wind industry.
Following this, Killybegs Marine Cluster’s manager Karl Bonner took to the stage alongside Paul Hegarty, head of school at the National Maritime College of Ireland and Aidan O’Driscoll from the National Fisheries College of Ireland, Greencastle, who are part of Bord Iascaigh Mhara to discuss The Future of Marine Skills.
Industry Tour
The main event on Friday morning was the Killybegs Industry Tour, which kicked off in style with a visit to Atlantic Dawn Group’s - MFV Veronica. Onboard, a wealth of insights about the Pelagic fishing vessel were shared, including how the MFV Veronica featured components and parts from local companies, like SeaQuest Marine, K.E.R. Group and Armada Marine Cables to name just a few!
Lee Mooney of Mooney Boats then treated the group to a first-hand look at the latest Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV) they are constructing in their warehouse at the harbour. These vessels are specifically designed to transfer service crews to and from offshore wind platforms around the coast.
We then joined K.E.R. Group’s Managing Director Eugene McBrearty in the K.E.R. workshop, where Eugene provided the group with some insights into their products, including their state-of-the-art vacuum pump systems that are suitable for the pelagic and aquaculture industries, and ensure the safe pumping of fish.
Our penultimate stop brought our tour group to SeaQuest Systems, where Company Director Brian Leslie showcased their operations, giving us a first-hand look at how their team works together to achieve their latest innovations as leading industry specialists in fish pumps and hydraulic systems for fishing and offshore vessels. Their in-house manufacturing process allows SeaQuest Systems to maintain full autonomy over the production process, guaranteeing accuracy, consistency and security for their end-users.
Finally, the #MIINinDonegal attendees were given a true Killybegs welcome by MMG Ocean, where we were greeted by Chairman Martin McBride and Managing Director Martin McGuinness on arrival.
Martin McGuinness recounted that MMG Ocean was one of the very first members of the Marine Ireland Industry Network, back when they were known as MMG Welding and MIIN was known as IMIN. They credit the network for opening the doors to collaboration with different Irish marine companies, allowing their continued growth and expansion within the industry.
Liam Curran (MIIN) said “A huge thank you to all that attended and helped to make this event happen - particularly the Killybegs people and companies that were kind enough to talk to us about how they worked part-time in fishing and part-time in offshore wind, and those who showed us around their vessels and sites. As always, visitors to Killybegs were hugely impressed. The marine engineering capability here is second to none!”
MIIN would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made our #MIINinDonegal event a success. To our speakers, our panellists, our hosts, our tour guides, and our audience – thank you for joining us. We hope to see you all again at our next event.
The Marine Ireland Industry Network
The MIIN network is made up of a diverse array of companies, state organisations, research groups and third level institutes, working throughout the country in Irelands growing blue economy. This network offers companies a great opportunity to network, collaborate, innovate and promotion to a wider audience.
The eligibility criteria for joining the network is simple enough – they must be a marine organisation with a company address somewhere on the island of Ireland (ROI and NI inclusive) and they need to sign up via the link below.
