From Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris today announced a significant investment in apprenticeship training in Louth and Meath.
A new craft skills training hub will be established providing training to approximately 336 apprentices each year.
It will open early next year and will become a centre of excellence for electrical training. It will also deliver up to 20 permanent jobs in the town.Speaking today, Minister Harris said:
"This is a great day for the people of Drogheda and the Louth Meath area.
“This is a key recommendation of the Geiran Report in January 2021. The second recommendation regarding education and training was the requirement of more apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programmes in Drogheda.
“Today we are delivering a training facility wholly dedicated to electrical apprenticeships, and when fitted out it will provide a state of the art training centre and help to alleviate the delays faced by apprentices in what is an enduringly popular profession.
“We know we have skills shortages in this country, but today is another important step on the road to addressing that challenge.
“As well as climate targets, the facility will make a valuable contribution to the availability of skilled workers in the construction industry, helping to achieve the ambition set out in Housing for All.
“But at a local level, having over 300 apprentices attending the facility will be also huge boost for the area’s economy."
The development in Drogheda will provide teaching spaces and other facilities, including community accessible spaces. The new facility will enable greater opportunities for more integrated planning and delivery locally and regionally.
Funding for these two projects will be provided through SOLAS to LMETB. The two projects announced today will now move forward to the appointment of a design team, with a view to development of a more detailed project brief in consultation with relevant stakeholders.
Minister Harris added:
"I want to pay tribute to the advances made in the region under the leadership of Louth Meath ETB. This investment announced today demonstrates their vision for the people of Louth and Meath. These projects will serve our learners and support strategic objectives for a more integrated tertiary education."
CEO of SOLAS, Andrew Brownlee, said:
"Further Education & Training has a unique and special value both for learners and for our communities - and learners and communities in Drogheda deserve cutting edge facilities and equipment. This announcement of capital funding is a welcome step that will mean that FET facilities there reflect the modern, dynamic nature of FET provision in 2022.
"The ambitious scale of vision set out in the national FET strategy, Future FET: Transforming Learning, is being met by suitably ambitious investment. This funding will enable nationally coordinated and strategic action that will form the foundation of FET Colleges of the Future; greatly expand capacity; build up our national skills portfolio; strengthen pathways through and from FET; and most importantly, best serve the FET learners of today and tomorrow.
“This investment in capital is an investment in the future of FET – and most importantly, an investment in the future of the many learners in the Louth and Meath region that it will directly benefit."
Martin G O’Brien, Chief Executive Officer of LMETB, and member of the Drogheda Implementation Board, said:
"We are very pleased to bring this new centre to Drogheda.
“We thank Minister Simon Harris, officials from DFHERIS and SOLAS management for the support and investment for Apprenticeship provision in Drogheda. It will enable LMETB grow and expand our capacity to deliver apprenticeships across the region. In addition, it will assist SOLAS in addressing the current waiting list.”
The ‘Drogheda: Building a Bridge to a Better Future’ report arises from a scoping exercise undertaken by Mr Vivian Geiran, a former director of the Probation Service, at the request of Minister Helen McEntee in 2020. A copy of the report, which was published on 26 March 2021, is available at: Scoping Report into Community Safety and Wellbeing in Drogheda
In addition to an overarching recommendation for the establishment of a coordination structure to improve community safety and wellbeing in Drogheda, the other recommendations in the report cover areas related to: drug use; youth and community development facilities; services for children and young people; education and training; arts, culture, sport and recreation, local authority organisation and services; local infrastructure and assets; employment, enterprise and development; and ethnic and racial issues.