Mechanics school to close as numbers fall

AN apprentice training centre for mechanics is to be closed down after being allocated more than €300,000 of taxpayers’ money in the past two years for new equipment.

The 40-year-old centre at Davis College in Mallow, Co Cork, trains around 80 people year as part of a motor trade apprenticeship scheme run by FÁS.

The Department of Education allocated €200,000 in January for the purchase of new equipment at the centre, which had spent €105,000 on upgrading equipment in the previous 14 months.

The school, operated by Cork Co Vocational Education Committee (VEC), was notified last week that FÁS would stop sending mechanics to it from September because of falling recruitment in the trade.

Noel O’Connor, chairman of the college’s board of management, said everyone was shocked that such a decision could be made without consulting the staff or the VEC.

“We’ve been training apprentices here for 40 years and some of our trainees have won national awards and represented Ireland overseas. We’re seeking a meeting with the Education Minister as she seems to be the only one with the authority to review the situation,” he said.

Mr O’Connor said the centre employs three staff and has some part-time workers, but provides income for dozens of homeowners who accommodate apprentices who come from around the country.

The notification received from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) said there was a need to reduce the level of apprentice provision in a number of trades because of weakening recruitment, and that a number of colleges were being affected.

“These decisions are very much demand driven, where employers have told FÁS they are going to need less people qualifying in certain trades,” a HEA spokesperson said last night.

The Department of Education said the grant for the college in January was provided before it was told by FÁS that it would not have enough apprentices to fill all the courses on offer next September.

“As the decision has now been taken to discontinue the motor mechanic apprentice course at Davis College, the department will be liaising with the VEC in Cork in relation to this grant,” a spokesperson said.

More than 600 motor mechanic training places are currently provided at Davis College and the Athlone, Cork, Dublin, Dundalk, Galway/Mayo and Waterford institutes of technology, but FÁS notified the Department of Education in February that it would not be able to fill all places next September.