A huge demand for carpenters

A booming economy and property market means carpenters are very much in demand. If you want to become a carpenter you must do a FAS apprenticeship. This means finding a job and then being registered with FAS. The apprenticeship consists of seven phases with phases alternating between time spent on and off-the-job. Phase two is spent in a FAS training centre and phases four and six in institutes of technology. The on-the-job phases with the employer are monitored.

Before obtaining an apprenticeship you should try and get some work experience, or, at least, see the type of work you will be involved in. Think about participating in a FAS pre-apprenticeship course. Some Post Leaving Certificate colleges also offer pre-apprenticeship courses. The apprenticeship should take about four years. Unfortunately, there is a backlog of apprentices waiting to begin their off-the-job training. The experience of apprentice Michael Courtney, age 20, is typical: he is working in Ashbourne, Co Meath, and registered with FAS in June 1989. Michael has just begun phase two of his apprenticeship in the FAS training centre in Finglas.

Also registered with FAS in 1989, Stephen Monks, age 18, working in Cabra, Dublin, has also been waiting more than two years to begin his phase two training.

Centre manager Tony Hannigan says the current building can cope with two carpentry classes. There are plans to expand into another building and take on a further five carpentry and joinery classes to help reduce the backlog of apprentices. "No-one could have foreseen the demand," he says.

There are essentially two branches of carpentry - workshop operations, usually called joinery and site work usually called carpentry. Michael Courtney always wanted to do carpentry. He is working on a building site, doing first and second fittings - putting up roofs, partitions, doors and windows. Stephen works in a joinery where he helps make fittings for houses - stairs, doors, architraves, skirting and windows.

FAS instructor Bernard Bird explains that apprentices on phase two are exposed to both carpentry and joinery, with everything taught from the basics. "Students do five modules - basic joints, cubicle work (timber floors etc), joinery (making doors, windows, stairs), hanging doors, and roofing. They do three sets of tests - joinery, first and second fixings and roofing," he explains.

Apprentices spend 40 weeks off the job in total. The other two off-the-job phases are held in the institutes of technology. Apprentices are paid a training allowance and a travel allowance.