Waterford named the best county in Ireland to train as a tradesperson
New research from Fieldmotion has placed Waterford as the best in Ireland for trainee tradespeople
New research from Fieldmotion has given the county an index score of 76.91 out of 100.
The research analysed factors such as rent prices, construction enterprises and proximity to university campuses.
A Fieldmotion spokesperson said: “Waterford tops the list as the best county for doing a trade apprenticeship, with an overall score of 76.91 out of 100.
“In 2022, Waterford IT merged with Carlow IT to form the South East Technological University (SETU).
“Waterford is home to five of the university’s campuses in some of which offsite learning for trade apprenticeships takes place.”
They went on to highlight Waterford’s rent prices and home commencement rates.
“In Waterford, the average rent for a room in a shared house was €614.50 per month for a double room.
“The county also had the highest rate of new home commencements in the country, at 99.6 per 10,000 people (1,269 in total) for the past 12 months, suggesting a strong level of trade work activity in the area.”
Mayo, Carlow, Wexford and Meath were the other counties that made up the top five.
Kerry, Donegal, Tipperary, Galway and Westmeath made up the remainder of the top ten.
Jerome Finnegan, Managing Director at Fieldmotion, said: “While this obviously shows where in Ireland is the best or most suitable to do a trade apprenticeship, I think it adds to a broader conversation about how important it is to make entry into the construction industry more streamlined and accessible, and how this is an essential part of easing the labour shortage the county is facing as we move into an era of massive investment in public infrastructure and projects.
“What we hear from businesses is that demand for skilled people is still very strong while experienced tradespeople are getting harder and harder to recruit, which makes bringing new talent through more urgent.”
The research comes as the country is facing a labour shortage in the construction industry with roughly 54,000 fewer employees than at its 2007 peak.
While the construction sector currently employs over 177,600 people, to meet the housing and infrastructure goals set by the Government, 100,000 additional roles are required by 2030 - roughly 25,000 per year.
Fieldmotion built a Trade Apprenticeship Index using five metrics.
The average rent for a double room in a house, the distance to the nearest technological university campus, and three CSO datasets.
These measured new homes commenced, construction employees and active construction enterprises.