ELECTRIC.IE • The Magazine & Website for the Irish Electrical Industry • 51 LI nE dDuVsAt rNy CNE e w s Kirby – Official Sponsor of the Ireland U21 Women’s Hockey Team Kirby Group Engineering has become an Official Sponsor of the Ireland U21 Women’s Hockey Team, supporting the development of emerging talent through Hockey Ireland’s high-performance pathway. The partnership reflects Kirby’s commitment to helping people grow and reach their potential, both in the workplace and through community and sporting initiatives. The company said it is proud to support the next generation of female athletes as they work towards senior international representation. Kirby has a longstanding tradition of supporting sport and community programmes, recognising their role in promoting wellbeing, inclusion, teamwork and personal development. Alistair Tosh, Group HR Director at Kirby, said the partnership aligns closely with the company’s “People First” approach and commitment to investing in talent. “We are proud to partner with Hockey Ireland as an Official Sponsor of the Ireland U21 Women’s Hockey Team,” he said. “We look forward to following the team’s journey and wish the players and management every success.” Hockey Ireland CEO Richard Fahey welcomed the partnership, highlighting the importance of investment in pathway programmes to develop the next generation of Irish international players. He said Kirby’s support represents “a strong vote of confidence in this team and the future of Irish hockey.” Ireland U21 Players Maebh Le Roux and Millie Jerman. New Initiative Aims to Drive Gender Equality Across Ireland’s Construction Sector Constructing Equality Ireland brings industry organisations together to improve the attraction, retention and progression of women in the built environment. A coalition of organisations from across Ireland’s built environment sector has launched Constructing Equality Ireland, a new industry-led initiative aimed at accelerating progress on gender equality and increasing the representation of women across the construction industry. The initiative will bring organisations together to develop practical, evidence-based solutions to improve the attraction, retention and progression of women at all levels of the sector. The initiative has been established by Founding Partners from across the construction industry and is supported by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) and Women in Construction Ireland (WICI), both of which sit on the initiative’s Steering Group. Despite progress by individual organisations in recent years, women remain significantly underrepresented across the industry. Women currently account for just 10.9% of Ireland’s construction workforce, while representing 9.1% of board positions and 15.2% of senior leadership roles across the sector. Constructing Equality Ireland aims to address these challenges through collaboration, recognising that many of the barriers facing women are shared across the industry and cannot be effectively tackled by individual organisations working alone. The initiative will combine industry expertise, lived experience and evidence to identify practical measures capable of delivering meaningful and lasting change. As part of its initial pilot programme, Constructing Equality Ireland will host a series of industry roundtables examining issues including early-career recruitment and the retention of women in construction. Open to organisations of all sizes across the built environment sector, the discussions will help shape an industry-wide Gender Equality Action Plan. The plan will provide practical and scalable actions that organisations can adopt regardless of their size, available resources or existing level of progress on gender equality. The first roundtable is scheduled to take place on 6 October 2026, with further details to be announced.
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