Alternative thinking needed to tackle mechanic shortage

Calls were made at a recent Cork County Council meeting to make the career of being a mechanic more attractive and viable, as a general shortage of car mechanics has been witnessed across the country, and in fact across Europe.

Cllr John Paul O’Shea suggested the council write to Simon Harris TD, asking that apprenticeships that were delayed by Covid-19 be accelerated, to get the mechanics qualified as soon as possible.

Castletownroche councillor Frank Roche joined in, saying that while the situation is bad with car mechanics, he found it even worse for heavy goods vehicles and agricultural vehicles, “and with silage season coming up, it can be an awful disaster”.

Cllr John Healy supported the motion, but said the lack of uptake of apprenticeships could be because of the comparatively poor pay for the trade, and that officials needed to 'think outside the box' if they wanted to increase those entering the trade.

“There's actually people coming in as apprentices and they're leaving after 6 months because the money isn’t there and it is there in other jobs. They have more money, and can come home clean,” Cllr Healy said..

In April, Minister for State Jack Chambers said that 55 mechanics were being recruited for NCT purposes from outside of the European Union, as there is a European-wide shortage of suitably qualified people. The NCT is run by private company Applus. However, it seems that the State is doing the employing for Applus as there is a 'dispute on the contract mechanisms'.

As reported by RTÉ, Mr Chambers said that Applus were failing to provide the service for which they were hired.

”Applus are contracted to provide that service and they haven't provided the level or standard of service that I expect as minister and that's why contract penalties are being applied and there's an engagement between the road Safety Authority and Applus and that in fact there's a dispute on the contract mechanisms."