Trade apprenticeships offered by the Galway Roscommon Education and Training Board will almost double next year, following the €5 million purchase of a new training facility in the city.
The Cambridge Building in the Mervue Business Park, which extends to an external area of 36,769 square feet, was purchased at a cost of €5,164,250, following approval by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Simon Harris.
The new facility, which is adjacent to GRETB’s current training centre, will see the number of apprenticeships rise from 216 to 400 next year, with the potential to increase capacity to more than 600 per year.
It will provide new craft workshops for electrical, plumbing, carpentry and joinery, metal fabrication, and pipefitting. It is also understood that the workshops can be converted to accommodate other trades to meet future demand in certain areas.
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The acquisition has been welcomed by the Minister of State, and Fine Gael Galway West TD, Hildegarde Naughton [pictured above], who noted that the existing training centre has been operating at full capacity and unable to meet demand for some time.
“GRETB has seven apprenticeship workshops at its centre in Mervue Business Park, and all are consistently at full capacity, which is a testament to its quality and success,” she said. “This major investment will address the shortage of places, and allow a significantly greater number of trainees to learn the skills they need to avail of the considerable opportunities that currently exist in certain areas of the economy.”
