Local participants selected to compete on world stage

The Department for the Economy has congratulated five local students and apprentices who have been selected to compete at the global WorldSkills competition in September.

David McKeown, Jason Scott, Isaac Bingham, Charlie Carson and Daniel Knox

The five participants will compete as part of the 31-strong UK team in the competition in Lyon, France. They will carry out challenges against counterparts from across the world in fields as diverse as cabinetmaking, autobody repair, electrical installation and robot systems integration.

Congratulating the five local competitors, Permanent Secretary at the Department for the Economy Ian Snowden said:

“I am immensely pleased for these five young people on being selected to compete at this year’s WorldSkills competition. Each of them should be extremely proud of what they have achieved thus far and it once again clearly demonstrates the wealth of talent we have here.

“It is also great to see our further education colleges, training organisations, universities and employers being represented at a global level and it is testament to the diversity of the training offering available locally.

“On behalf of the Department, I wish the team every success as they embark on this exciting venture and I look forward with interest to hear the experiences of our local competitors.”

WorldSkills Lyon 2024 takes place 10-15 September and will host over 1,500 young people in over 65 countries, who will compete in 62 different skill disciplines.

The five local participants are:

• David McKeown, Ballymena – Autobody Repair – former apprentice who trained at Riverpark Training, now working at James McKeown Accident Repair
   
• Jason Scott, Magherafelt – Robot Systems Integration (team competition) – attended Northern Regional College, now working for AES Global
   
• Isaac Bingham, Rathfriland – Cabinetmaking – former apprentice who trained at Southern Regional College, now working for Monkeywood Luxury Kitchens and Furniture in Banbury, Oxfordshire 
   
• Charlie Carson, Ballymoney – Robot Systems Integration (team competition) – attended Northern Regional College, now at Ulster University

• Daniel Knox, Enniskillen – Electrical Installation – former apprentice who trained at South West College, now working for GP Electrical and Security Ltd

Notes to editors: 

1. More information on WorldSkills Lyon 2024 is available at: WorldSkills 2024 website

2. WorldSkills UK, a four nations partnership between education, industry and UK governments, is responsible for selecting, mentoring and training Team UK. More information on WorldSkills UK is available at WorldSkills UK website

3. The Department may take photographs and videos at announcements and events to publicise its work. Photographs, interviews, videos or other recordings may be issued to media organisations for publicity purposes or used in promotional material, including in publications, newspapers, magazines, other print media, on television, radio and electronic media (including social media and the internet). Photographs and videos will also be stored on the Department’s internal records management system. The Department will keep the photographs and recordings for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which they have been obtained. The Department’s Privacy Policy is available on our website.

4. To keep up to date with news from the Department for the Economy you can follow us on the following social media channels:

X – @Economy_NI
Facebook – @DeptEconomyNI
Instagram – economy_ni
LinkedIn – Department for the Economy NI 

5. For media enquiries contact the Department for the Economy Press Office at pressoffice@economy-ni.gov.uk  

6. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.

Share this page