'Gender doesn't make a difference' Laois ESB apprentice Molly Comerford

Female apprentices are breaking glass ceilings in Laois, particularly electrical apprentices.

Not only is the Laois Rose of Tralee, Katelyn Cummins leading the way as an apprentice in Alpha Drives, but ESB Networks Training Centre has among the highest proportion of female apprentices in Ireland.

Molly Comerford is one of the 450 apprentices undergoing highly skilled training at the centre in Portlaoise, now undergoing a big expansion.

Now in her fourth and final year, Molly, who moved to Portlaoise to study, is from Ballinabranna, Carlow.

“I like living in Portlaoise. My work is in continuity, mainly overhead construction of new lines,” Emma told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

A graduate of St Leo's College in Carlow, she explains why she decided to go down the route of electrical apprenticeships, rather than enter the jobs market or third level college.

“I like working with my hands, and being outside. Learning how electricity is generated really interested me,” she said.

When she started first year in Portlaoise, she was one of eight females out of 96 apprentices.

This year there are 40 females out of 156 new first year apprentices.

“It's nice to see more women. Gender doesn't make a difference, we're still able to do it. It's nice working here. I will get loads of opportunities to specialise. You're paid wages while you're training,” she said.

Molly doesn't intend to emigrate once qualified.

“I plan to stay working in Ireland with ESB,” she said.

Anne Gaskin Roe is ESB Network's Apprenticeships Development Manager.

She said that first year apprentices are paid €12,000, second year €18,500, and €26,000 in their third year.

Once qualified, if they are hired as permanent Network Technicians they can expect a wage of €43,500.

ESB Networks says it aims to improve gender diversity in its craft employee group which has resulted in an average of 26% women in apprenticeship programmes each year. The next recruitment of apprentices goes live from March 1 2026.

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A 1,000 sq metre expansion of the ESB Network's main national training centre in Portlaoise, costing €6.5million, was officially begun by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD who called it a "significant investment".

He praised Laois' most famous female electrical apprentice, the reigning Laois Rose of Tralee, Katelyn Cummins, an electrical apprentice in Alpha Drives, Portlaoise.

"She is a young female apprentice leading the way not just in the dome, but in her career. She represents the changing face of apprentices," he said.