Given his own success and his experience in recruiting and looking after apprentices, he’s well placed to observe the apprenticeship landscape in Ireland.

Of that he says: “The growth in apprenticeships in Ireland is fantastic. From an employer's point of view I think that a lot of young people probably don't see the career prospects that can be got from apprenticeships, but the opportunities are great.

“A huge amount of the senior management in our company are time-served trades people. That is replicated in many other top construction companies as well. Most of the top fellows didn’t come out of college or from CEO backgrounds. They came up through the ranks. It’s good for young people to know this.” 

We talk then about his experience of hiring apprentices. “Pre-Covid we had about 150 apprentices working with us and we were looking to recruit more as we had three or four major projects coming up.” 

Mercury Engineering spotted a gap in the training of apprentices. Of that he says: “We had apprentices on site and because we wanted to do a little bit more training with them, we set up our own training centre here in Ballycoolin in Blanchardstown, Dublin.

“Apprentices learn when out on the job. So we bring them in here to our training centre before they go off to Solas for the off the job phases. We run them through a few things here as well to make sure they are properly prepared. We supplement the training.” 

Gray says that in the four years apprentices are on contract, Mercury Engineering does its level best and they do their level best to get them through their training. “We all work hard to ensure that at the end of training, they get their QQI Level 6 qualification — the National Craft Certificate.” 

He’s a member of the National Apprenticeship Alliance (NAA) which represents apprenticeship stakeholders and brings together a wealth of knowledge and first-hand, practical experience from the worlds of education providers, learners, industry partners and trade unions.

Of that he says: “It’s really important that industry and business have an input into the NAA . Because from our point of view we can see things that are happening quicker, so if there is innovation in business — whether that might be hairdressing or cheffing or farriering or whatever — then industry has an opportunity to bring that innovation back into the NAA, and make sure it’s improved for everybody.

“The unions are part of the alliance as well and it is in everyone's interest, from an Ireland point of view, from an industry point of view and from a business point of view, that we are all successful. Everyone is going to have a hand, act, or part in this and I think that’s going to be really beneficial and should raise the standard for everybody.”