Powering ahead with electrical apprentice training in Tullamore

ELECTRICAL apprentices complete 21 weeks of their training with the Laois & Offaly Education and Training Board (LOETB).

There are seven phases in all for the trainee electricians and the stint with the LOETB is the second one.

Fully equipped and functioning training booths have been installed at the Midlands Skills Centre in Tullamore's Axis Business Park and because of additional demand and the requirement for even more places, a second training centre has been added at Kilcruttin elsewhere in the town.

There is an electrical training centre in Mountrath as well and plumbing training is also offered at that location.

A suspension of training during the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the ongoing growth in the economy and an unprecedented shortage of skilled tradespeople across the country, has fuelled growth.

The LOETB takes over responsibility for paying the apprentices who would have begun their training with their employer (phase one) and then return to the employer for phase three.

They then move to Technological University Shannon (TUS) Athlone for another phase, go back to the employer again, continue for another phase at TUS Athlone, and then conclude the seven-stage apprenticeship in the workplace.

The 21-week stint with the LOETB begins with 10 weeks covering the typical full domestic electrical installation which would be required in a house – putting up a fuse board, lights, sockets, cooker, immersion, testing, earthing and bonding.

There is also four weeks on containment (including steelwork), plus further weeks on motor control, using a three-phase board and a motor control panel.

The trainees also spend two weeks on teamwork and communications, with a focus on projects and research pieces, along with necessary skills like writing cover letters and CV preparation.

Over 100 apprentices are in training at any one time across the centres in Tullamore and Mountrath and their presence brings an economic boost to the towns, especially the local shops and delis.

Even those running local gyms have realised that their services are sought when trainees arrive and some have begun offering apprentices special rates.

Apprentices who have to move and live in Tullamore or Mountrath are paid an accommodation allowance while those who are able to travel are given expenses.