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The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., today joined Engineers Ireland in encouraging students, schools and parents to get involved in Engineers Week 2012, which will be taking place across Ireland between the 27th February and 4th March 2012.

The week-long series of activities across the country is run by Engineers Ireland and is a campaign held annually to promote engineering as a career and the importance of the profession to Ireland.

The theme for Engineers Week 2012 is "Connecting Our Lives". During the week events for students of all ages, aimed at highlighting the importance of engineering to our daily lives, will take place across the country.

Highlight events over the week include the launch of the 2012 State of Ireland infrastructure report on Monday 27th February and an "ethical hackathon" highlighting security issues for third level technology students on Tuesday February 28. Throughout the week volunteer engineers will enter schools to explain the importance of maths and engineering employers across Ireland will welcome the public on organised tours of their facilities so they can learn more about the vital role engineers play in the community.

In the context of the ongoing roll-out of Project Maths, Minister Quinn said that the week can support classroom learning by providing hands-on examples of real-life maths.

Minister Quinn said: "I hope that the events planned as part of Engineers Week 2012 will show students that maths is important in every day life. This is a key principle of the new Project Maths programme, which is being rolled out across all post- primary schools.

"I encourage schools to log onto www.engineersweek.ie to see which organisations are hosting events in their local area and to find out the many activities available for students".

Speaking today John Power, Director General, Engineers Ireland, said: "Engineers Week will run from the 27th of February until the 4th of March. The week is focused on highlighting the career opportunities available to Irish students in engineering. We'd encourage students, teachers and parents to log onto our website and find an event close to them. We hope that by the end of the week people will have a better understanding of what engineers do and specifically within the organisations in their local area."

For further information and to see a full list of events taking place during the week log onto www.engineersweek.ie.