Sinn Féin election candidate hoping STEM jobs will form a vital part of Wexford’s future

That was the hope of Sinn Féin local election hopeful Lorraine Smyth, who recently paid a visit to the Loreto Secondary School to promote the uptake of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) courses as a career path.

A Digital Solutions Manager in the HSE, Lorraine was awarded the Network Wexford Business Woman of the Year for her work in the field and was able to provide some insight and answer questions from students who may be thinking of a career in a traditionally male-dominated field.

“I wanted the students to see working in the HSE could be interesting and exciting,” Lorraine said. “I presented some of the projects I had worked on from Covid-killing robots to Prescription Drown Delivery Pilot Projects. I showed the students how we managed the logistics behind testing for Covid Nationally and showed them how the digital systems improved tracking and modelling of cases during the pandemic.

“Health technology will change how we live in the future. I hope I made an impression on the students, I would like to see more women take up STEM courses.”

Ms Smyth noted that STEM courses tend to lead to higher paying jobs and should thus be a priority for Wexford, a county which previously recorded the fifth lowest average wage in Ireland.

“If we want to encourage young people to stay in Wexford we need more STEM course in the new SETU (South East Technological University),” she said.

“With STEM courses comes foreign direct investment and higher paid jobs, so it is important we provide these courses in the new university on the Wexford campus. We need to have a strategy around this.

"Growth areas like Cyber Security and Data Protection and AI are the areas that will also provide employment in the future. We need to plan for this and encourage students into this area. It is very important to me that Wexford is a leader in this area and attracts these high paying positions.”