Roche Ireland, Clarecastle, Co. Clare

Eamon Noonan, Roche Ireland My name is Eamon Noonan and I am currently in my final year of the Chemical & Process Engineering degree course in CIT. Having completed three years in college, students decide to go on an industrial placement for the summer. On my third year placement I was working in Roche Ireland Ltd, just outside Ennis in Co. Clare. This was paid placement so I had the opportunity to save some money for the upcoming year. I was given a lot of responsibility and was made feel very welcome by all people in various sections within the company. My work was a good mixture of plant based and office based tasks. On the plant, I was mainly following pipelines and recording what instruments and valves were on these lines. This gave me a good appreciation of the scale of items on the plant and also how they work. In the office, I sized emergency relief valves for atmospheric tanks containing solvents. I also monitored the amount of solvents entering and leaving the site. This is a regulatory requirement and is also in the best interest of the company as solvents are expensive. I also attended many meetings and made a number of presentations during my placement. As I am from Co. Limerick, I moved to Ennis for the summer. There were many activities organised by the company such as a BBQ, golf outings, a tennis competition and soccer. These were extremely enjoyable and allowed me to get to know a lot of different people I wouldn’t have met in the course of my work. I thoroughly enjoyed my placement and I am delighted with the profession I have chosen. All I have to do now is get through final year!! Eamon was offered a job by Roche in December of his final year and will start with them as a professional engineer next summer.