Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Ministers Killeen and Haughey announce Air Corps training programme...

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Ministers Killeen and Haughey announce Air Corps training programme...

    Ministers Killeen and Haughey announce Air Corps training programme for
    S R Technics aircraft maintenance apprentices


    The Minister for Defence, Tony Killeen, T.D. and his colleague the Minister for Lifelong Learning, Sean Haughey, T.D, today (23rd September 2010) jointly announced an innovative new training programme which will see up to 30 apprentices formerly employed at the S R Technics aircraft maintenance facility at Dublin Airport being taken on by the Air Corps to complete the Phases 5 and 7 on-the-job training element of their apprenticeships.

    Minister Haughey said “This is a hugely beneficial and highly specialised programme for well over half of the aircraft maintenance apprentices let go at S R Technics Dublin airport facility. These redundancies have had a major impact in my constituency and I am delighted that the State sector in the form of FAS, my own Department and the Department of Defence and the Air Corps have come together to establish this scheme to provide the expert training required for these highly skilled young people so as to enable them to progress to completion of their apprenticeships”.

    Minister Killeen echoed this sentiment when he said “This is a unique undertaking whereby the State in the form of the Department of Defence and the Air Corps has stepped in, the latter as a body with the ability to provide very specialist training, to assist these former S R Technics apprentices in order that they might progress to the successful completion of their apprenticeships. It is equally unique in that the apprentices will not be employed by the Dept. of Defence or the Air Corps but will avail of all of training facilities at Casement Aerodrome under the tutorship of Air Corps Instructors.

    He said “I am delighted that this specialist branch of the Defence Forces has had the foresight and willingness to engage in partnership with FAS to implement this programme. The Air Corps has a highly skilled cadre of aircraft maintenance personnel and the aircraft on which the skills of the apprentices can be practised and honed. It trains its own personnel to the highest requisite standards and will now be providing similar training and expert knowledge to these apprentices. The Air Corps is one of the few employers of aircraft mechanics in the country and as such is delighted to be able to help out in these exceptional circumstances”.

    “This highlights the flexible and practical approach being taken by Government wherever possible to provide innovative solutions to assist redundant cohorts, in this instance a cohort of very highly specialised apprentices”.

    The scheme will commence at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel on Monday 27th September with the first group of up to 14 apprentices commencing their Phase 5 on-the-job training. It is envisaged that a second group of up to 17 apprentices will commence training in November 2010. Off-the-job training is being provided to these apprentices in between the on-the-job work placement phases in the Dublin Institute of Technology at Phases 4 and 6 of the apprenticeship cycle.

    Minister Haughey said “Between the on-the-job and off-the-job training being provided to these former S R Technics apprentices the scheme in total will cost in the region of €1.4m. A significant element of this expenditure will be provided through the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) co-financing assistance announced last Tuesday by the European Commission on foot of an Irish application for support made last October. This EU funding will be matched by funding from the National Training Fund, particularly in relation to that element of the apprentices’ training which post-dates the EGF eligibility period in October 2011. It is intended that all the apprentices will have completed the requisite training phases with the Air Corps by the first Quarter of 2012.

    FAS has also recently placed 5 other former S R Technics apprentices with another aircraft maintenance employer recently as part of the Redundant Apprenticeship Placement Scheme 2010.

    In addition, FAS is seeking to secure further progression in their apprenticeships, at both on-the-job and off-the-job phases, of 4 more mechanical and automation and maintenance fitting apprentices made redundant at S R Technics.

    The Minister said “This is a concrete example of the cooperative approach possible between State bodies to provide practical assistance to redundant apprentices”.

    “It is also an excellent example of the type of innovative scheme which can be co-financed with EU assistance under the EGF”.

    ENDS


    For further information please contact: Derval Monahan Press Adviser to Minister Killeen, Department of Defence, on Mobile + 353876781608 or Department of Defence Press Office Mobile +35387 234 0397 or email pressoffice@defence.irlgov.ie.

    Or Keith McMullen, Press Officer, Department of Education and Skills 01-8892322 or 087-6479497 or email keith_mcmullen@education.gov.ie
    So if they aren't working for the DoD, what will they be working on?


    Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.

  • #2
    Originally posted by Goldie fish View Post
    So if they aren't working for the DoD, what will they be working on?
    The Air Corps has a .... the aircraft on which the skills of the apprentices can be practised and honed.

    It is equally unique in that the apprentices will not be employed by the Dept. of Defence or the Air Corps but will avail of all of training facilities at Casement Aerodrome under the tutorship of Air Corps Instructors.
    So they won't actually be employed as apprentices would normally be during on the job training but do they not still need an employer? FAS?

    “Between the on-the-job and off-the-job training being provided to these former S R Technics apprentices the scheme in total will cost in the region of €1.4m.
    It is well worth it in the long term.



    In all excellent news fair play to all!!!

    Comment


    • #3
      Hi there,
      Quite how the apprentices coming from the shift-based, commercial-pressure, clock-in, clock-out culture will cope with the tea-five-times-a-day, slope-off early, overly bureaucratic Air Corps culture is beyond me.It's anice gesture but it would be much better if they were sent to Shannon Aerospace or MRO, to continue in the real world.
      regards
      GttC

      Comment


      • #4
        But the important thing is they will get to complete their training and won't be on the dole and won't have wasted the last 2 years or so.

        I assume that they tried the likes of Shannon first?

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by GoneToTheCanner View Post
          Hi there,
          Quite how the apprentices coming from the shift-based, commercial-pressure, clock-in, clock-out culture will cope with the tea-five-times-a-day, slope-off early, overly bureaucratic Air Corps culture is beyond me.It's anice gesture but it would be much better if they were sent to Shannon Aerospace or MRO, to continue in the real world.
          regards
          GttC
          Because the shift based, commercial pressure, clock in clock out sector doesn't give a damn about whether these lads finish their apprenticeships or not.

          The "real world" in which you now work has ceratinly made you bitter towards the Air Corps. There is no doubt it has huge problems in how it operates and the archaic way it runs its maintenace.

          I like you have done my time in the Don but fortunately don't harbour the same bitterness

          Comment


          • #6
            Hi Dev,
            I appreciate that and, without doubt, it'll help them finish up, but I can't help thinking that it's a patch-up, rather than a real solution.
            regards
            GttC

            Comment


            • #7
              I know where your coming from Gttc

              Comment


              • #8
                sure they can go on the dole with the rest of us when they are finished
                Anyone need a spleen ?

                Comment


                • #9
                  would it not be better to be on the dole in 2 years with a trade than be on the dole now without one?

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by GoneToTheCanner View Post
                    Hi there,
                    Quite how the apprentices coming from the shift-based, commercial-pressure, clock-in, clock-out culture will cope with the tea-five-times-a-day, slope-off early, overly bureaucratic Air Corps culture is beyond me.It's anice gesture but it would be much better if they were sent to Shannon Aerospace or MRO, to continue in the real world.
                    regards
                    GttC
                    As per usual GTTC, you speak nothing but what goes on in the real world.

                    Does your aerodrome take on any apprentices? Not a loaded question btw.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Hi there,
                      Im in the former State airline, who unfortunately got rid of their last apprentices without a backward glance, which is why we had to take on the last of the SRT heads(who are, by and large, very good) as the Company decided that it was smarter to ditch the next generation of engineers than to keep them on. I'm all for keeping the SRT aptces. in training but I'm sceptical of an organisation that thinks a training wreck, untouched by even their own apprentices, is suitable for persons who have Boeing/Airbus experience.A significant amount of the Don's fleet is helicopter-based, which are completely unfamiliar to the SRT guys, so they have an educational lag there.Apart from that, the workshops are tiny and not set up for adequate training of engineers, so the SRT guys will find it difficult to get adequate coverage of sheet metal, hydraulic, electrical, pneumatic, avionic, turbine engine systems. I'd be curious to see how much of this has been thought through.
                      regards
                      GttC

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Open to correction on the following:

                        Don't forget the AC is the only organisation in the State training helicopter technicians

                        Aer Lingus maintenaince was outsourced to Team (that then became SRT)

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Hi there,
                          that's all very well if they re-role as heli techs, but not all of them will.At least, when TEAM, FLS and SRT came along, it was based around a central core of ex Aer Lingus people and they stayed working on the same aircraft, so continuity of training and experience was preserved.Also, the AC aptce school has shrunk in recent times due to lack of it's own apprentos so it will have to gear up to train these guys.It will be very interesting to see the outcome of this.
                          regards
                          GttC

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Apprentos

                            Nobody will begrudge them a shot at finishing out their training.Does anyone know what status they will have in IAC,are they in service or on contract?.
                            The RTC in Carlow runs an avionic course now for a few years,any reports on its progress?

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              With yesterdays news just as well they didn't go to Shannon Aerospace!

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X