Five Skoda employees from across Ireland have been selected to represent Ireland at the international finals of the Skoda Challenge in Budapest this May, having battled it out at the Irish National final earlier this month, writes Trish Whelan.
Team Skoda Ireland will compete against 35 countries at the International Finals, which are in their seventh year. Ireland will be represented y Paul Bruton, Brian O’Mahony and Martin Healy, all from Cork, along with Darragh Smith from Cavan and Paul Egan from Naas.
The Skoda Challenge has become a prestigious benchmark for measuring the qualities of the best employees in the global Skoda network and Ireland will be represented in five different categories: Parts & Accessory Sales Person; Service Advisor; Service Technician; Sales Consultant and Diagnostic Technician.
Paul Bruton is a Diagnostic Technician with over 22 years’ experience, all of which have been spent with Noel Deasy Skoda in Cork. This is the second year that Paul has competed, having placed second in his category last year.
Brian O’Mahony of Finbarr Galvins Skoda in Bandon has been successful in his first time participating in the competition, winning the Service Technician category. Brian started work as a technician in 2001 before joining Finbarr Galvins in 2010.
Martin Healy works as Service Manager also in Noel Deasy Skoda in Blackpool, Cork. Martin has been with Noel Deasy Cars since March 2003, having studied automobile engineering in CIT.
Parts Advisor, Darragh Smith, started in the motor trade with no previous experience in Brady’s Skoda Cavan four years ago, training as an apprentice technician before moving to the Parts Department in September 2016.
This is the first year that a Sales Consultant category has been included in the national final and Paul Egan from Sheehy Motors Skoda is the inaugural winner. Paul, who has a background in Real Estate and Media Sales, joined the Skoda brand in Sheehy Motors Naas four years ago.
David Rave, Head of Aftersales at Skoda Ireland has wished all the best of luck in the finals saying “We have high hopes that Team Skoda Ireland can claim the number one spot in 2017.”
Pictured at the national final of the 2017 Skoda Challenge were (L-R): Martin Healy, Service Advisor Category, Noel Deasy Skoda; Paul Bruton, Diagnostic Technician Category, Noel Deasy Skoda; Brian O’Mahony, Service Technician Category, Finbarr Galvin Skoda; Darragh Smith, Parts & Accessory Sales Person, Bradys Skoda Cavan; Paul Egan, Sales Consultant Category, Sheehy Motors Skoda, Naas.
