Mark's got skills as he heads to France for world event

A Cork man is one of 18 young people travelling to France this week to compete as Team Ireland at the 2024 World Skills event.

Mark Drinan is part of Team Ireland and will be competing in a team of 2 for cyber security after beating off tough competition at the national skills competition to make the World Skills event.

Mark is a cyber security analysist with IBM. Originally from Charleville, he now lives in Dublin.

Mark competed at the Global Skills Challenge in Australia winning a gold Medal in preparation for Lyon 2024.

Mark said: “I am incredibly proud to represent Ireland as an international cyber security competitor at WorldSkills Lyon.

“It is an honour to compete against top talent from around the world making this competition a rewarding and humbling experience.”

He added: “We've received fantastic training from WorldSkills Ireland Experts and former WorldSkills cyber security competitors that will hopefully give us an edge come competition time. I am very grateful for all the support and guidance received from the experts and look forward to giving it our all in Lyon.”

The WorldSkills competition will see over 1,500 competitors from more than 71 countries and regions demonstrate their skills across 62 skills areas.

The Ireland team was announced by An Taoiseach Simon Harris and Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science, Patrick O’Donovan TD.

Minister O’Donovan said: “By competing at this very experienced level, Team Ireland is also showcasing the range and diversity of skills careers and apprenticeships available in Ireland.”

Team Ireland competed for the first time in 1957 and has competed at every international competition since then winning 63 gold, 53 silver, 80 bronze medals and 174 diplomas/medallions of excellence with 732 Team Ireland competitors. In 2016 Ireland Skills adopted the global branding to become WorldSkills Ireland.