Some 310 apprentices in the Midlands region recently received certification on completion of their apprenticeships. A presentation of certificates was made to 50 of these apprentices by Minister Willie Penrose last Friday October 14.
At the presentation, Minister Penrose spoke highly of the Irish apprenticeship system and praised award recipients for the standards obtained by them during their apprenticeships. An example of this is the success of Irish teams at the WorldSkills competitions, the most recent being held in London last week where the Irish team won three gold medals and five medallions of excellence. Minister Penrose said: “Once again the team scored highly against the best in the world. This is a remarkable achievement and it proves beyond doubt that our apprenticeship system and our apprentices are among the best in the world.”
Michael Dempsey, chairman of FÁS, spoke of the changes in the current economic environment and the challenges they present for apprentices in completing their training. He stated “to address this challenge FÁS has put in place a series of measures to assist redundant apprentices in completing their apprenticeship. These measures include the facilitation of redundant apprentices to progress to their next off the job phase of training while they are redundant and also through the Redundant Apprentices Placement Scheme where redundant apprentices can complete phases three, five, and seven of their apprenticeship with FÁS approved employers”.
In the Midlands region alone FÁS has supported approximately 141 apprentices to complete their apprenticeship and a further 113 are currently progressing their apprenticeship through the Redundant Apprentices Placement Scheme. This represents funding of approximately €1.7m from the Department of Education and Skills.
Concluding the ceremony, Minister Penrose congratulated the apprentices who received their Craft Certificates saying “Today is an opportunity to celebrate your achievement in being recognised as a highly skilled craftsperson.”
