Twenty-five unemployed people from Ballymun, Dublin, have been awarded Microsoft certified professional qualifications and more than 15 have received job offers within the IT sector.
The recipients completed Tr@mlines training courses - a three-way project between Microsoft, the Ballymun Job Centre and the European Social Fund through FAS.
The candidates were selected out of 410 applicants who had to be over 18, unemployed, and from Ballymun. Of the 25 people who undertook the course, 18 were long-term unemployed. The Tr@mlines graduates will now command salaries in line with university graduates.
Five of the trainees will start employment in a new company established by Ballymun Job Centre called Tr@mlines Limited. This company will provide computer training, system installation and back-up services to computer users.
Microsoft has supported the project with resources and expertise. Some of the resources come from compensation payments made to Microsoft by companies which have engaged in software piracy.
Other graduates have been offered positions in Gateway 2000, Moss Technology, Dublin City University, IBM, Workstations, Whitehall Senior College, CATT and CBT.
Mr Donnacadh Hurley, manager of the Tr@mlines project, said it represented a model which makes it possible for those who have been in long-term unemployment to leap-frog the formal education system and gain access to well-paid professional employment.
