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BellTIME
Harnessing efforts
At an event in the Clock Tower in the
Department of Education in Dublin,
Minister for Training and Skills John
Halligan TD officially launched the
partnership, pledging his support for
the work of FIT.
O’Toole emphasised that her
qualifications alone, though impressive,
were insufficient to get a job. She said
that FIT’s work placements allowed her
to gain the experience she needed to
complement those qualifications.
“The collaboration between FIT, J.P.
Morgan, the ICT industry and
Education and Training Boards (ETBs)
is an example of how we can harness
our joint efforts and create excellent
opportunities for people to gain skills
and thereby enter quality careers. I am
particularly pleased with the inclusive
approach adopted by FIT and
commend and welcome the support
for this from J.P. Morgan. This type of
initiative complements the existing
actions in the ICT Action Plan and I will
follow with great interest the progress
of the initiative and the lessons we can
learn from it.”
Anthony Carroll had trained as an
architectural technician and worked
with a construction firm, however, the
recession left him facing redundancy.
With a slight change in focus toward
property management, he again faced
redundancy a few years later and
made the decision to capitalise on his
ICT skills through FIT. Carroll now
Game changer
“Ireland has had incredible success in
establishing a vibrant multinational and
indigenous tech sector, but we can’t
take future success for granted.
Competitor economies are upping their
game and we need to compete
aggressively. The ICT Associate
Professional is a game changer and will
enable Ireland to become a global
technology powerhouse. Today’s
partnership between FIT and J.P.
Morgan strongly reinforces this
ambition,” said Sweetman.
The Minister emphasised that demand
is such in the high tech industry in
Ireland that the output of third level
graduates and beyond cannot be
relied upon alone to meet demand. He
said that such a move would “leave
thousands behind”.
Programme graduates
Two graduates of the programme
spoke of their experiences leading up
to and after their FIT engagements.
Shara O’Toole had been a fully
qualified and working hairdresser when
the salon in which she was employed
closed down. Having had vari