Mullingar apprentice among Ireland’s first robotics and automation trainees
A young Mullingar man is among the first nine apprentices in Ireland to undertake a new Robotics and Automation apprenticeship developed to meet the growing skills needs of the manufacturing industry.
Cillian Sharkey, who works with PEM Automation in Mullingar, is currently training at the Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre of Excellence (AMTCE) in Dundalk, operated by Louth and Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB).
The centre has dedicated robotics and collaborative robotics laboratories designed to equip learners with the skills needed to work with modern industrial automation.
LMETB is currently the only education and training board in Ireland offering the apprenticeship. Cillian is one of nine men and women in its first intake, who have been recruited from employers in the mining, pharmaceutical, automation, construction and electronic components sectors.
The apprentices come from eight counties – Cavan, Dublin, Galway, Laois, Longford, Louth, Meath and Westmeath.
The programme was developed by an industry consortium in conjunction with LMETB and validated by Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI). Other ETBs can apply for validation to offer the apprenticeship in the future.
On completion, apprentices will have opportunities to progress within industry, as well as a potential academic pathway to Southern Regional College in Armagh, where they may enter the third year of a degree programme.
Cillian and PEM Automation managing director Heinz O’Connor recently attended the AMTCE’s cross-border Advanced and Sustainable Manufacturing Expo, where they met Erin McGreehan TD, chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
Deputy McGreehan said advanced manufacturing was about people as much as technology, with skilled workers needed to develop, operate and adapt new technologies and turn them into commercial opportunities.
“As the manufacturing sector grows more sophisticated, we need technicians, engineers, data specialists, robotics experts and software developers, and that means backing apprenticeships, further education and lifelong learning,” she said.
She added that it was vital that small and medium-sized enterprises, which did not have the resources of multinational companies to establish their own training or research and development facilities, could also access these opportunities.
Martin O’Brien, chief executive of LMETB, said the organisation was committed to ensuring learners had access to the skills, facilities and training required by industry.
He said stronger links between employers and education and training providers would help develop the talent needed to ensure industries could grow and remain competitive.