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Electrician

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  • 01-08-2009 10:44am
    #1
    Neo7
    Registered Users Posts: 24 ✭


    Hi, I wonder could you help me with some information:
    1. I have an electrical engineering degree and experience in EU country. do I need a special certification to work as an Electrician in Ireland?
    2. Do I need to register as a sole trader if I wish to provide minor electrical services to inviduals?
    3. Could you give me a bit information about the tax I would need to pay- is there a certain minimum amount yearly or does it depend on my income? Do I need to be registered as a sole trader in order to pay this tax?
    Thank you very much.


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    #2
    Tony Grant
    Closed Accounts Posts: 15 ✭Tony Grant


    Hi If you want to become an electrical contractor in Ireland, you need to be a sole trader or a registered company and then you need to get insurance and register with one of the two organisations that represent contractors and you need to purchase testing equipment and have it calibrated each year.
    On the other hand if you want to do small jobs. It is a risk that you are taking if something goes wrong and there is a claim against you and you have no insurance.
    On the issue of tax, you pay on what you earn. There is no minimum amount. Register as self-employed with the tax office and present your books on 31st October each year. One year in arrears.
    P.S. You need to be able to prove that you are a qualified electrician before you start all this.

    Tony


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    #3
    Neo7
    Registered Users Posts: 24 ✭Neo7


    Hi Tony, many thanks for your response. Just one thing to clarify- to prove that I am a qualified electrician. Would my EU Diploma and experience as an Electrical Engineer be enough or do I need to take special exams or do anything else here in Ireland to become a qualified Electrician with the Irish Standards. If yes what is it?


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    #4
    Codofwar
    Registered Users Posts: 328 ✭✭Codofwar


    being an electrical engineer does not qualify you to work as an electrican in ireland.


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    #5
    Hoagy
    Registered Users Posts: 708 ✭✭✭Hoagy


    Neo7 wrote: »
    Just one thing to clarify- to prove that I am a qualified electrician. Would my EU Diploma and experience as an Electrical Engineer be enough or do I need to take special exams or do anything else here in Ireland to become a qualified Electrician with the Irish Standards. If yes what is it?


    Check out the RECI and ECSSA websites, their membership requirements are similar.

    From the RECI Website:

    "If you have a National Craft Certificate or a third level qualification in electrical engineering or equivalent qualifications you are eligible to be registered with RECI"


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    #6
    davelerave
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,712 ✭✭✭davelerave


    Neo7 wrote: »
    Hi Tony, many thanks for your response. Just one thing to clarify- to prove that I am a qualified electrician. Would my EU Diploma and experience as an Electrical Engineer be enough or do I need to take special exams or do anything else here in Ireland to become a qualified Electrician with the Irish Standards. If yes what is it?

    you are an engineer with a degree?(not an electrician). you may be able to register with reci/ecssa and employ sparkies to work for you.i don't see how you can do any practical work yourself without training and experience


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    #7
    2011
    Moderators, Home & Garden Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional East Moderators Posts: 12,591 Mod ✭✭✭✭2011


    i don't see how you can do any practical work yourself without training and experience
    + 1

    Although there is overlap between the two areas, they are very different. A good electrical engineer will not necessarily have the manual dexterity to be a good electrician.

    Many Irish electrical engineering degrees cover very little of the Irish wiring regulations (ET101) and if you did your degree abroad the chances are that you covered none of them. Even form a pricing point of view it would be important to be up to speed with current regulations (BTW the new regulations come in to force in a few weeks).

    There was a thread about this recently on the engineering forum. I suspect that the OP was trolling, but it was still very interesting. It highlights many of the differences between the role of an electrical engineer and that of an electrician.


    Good luck with it!


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    #8
    Stoner
    Registered Users Posts: 10,952 ✭✭✭✭Stoner


    OP, you should contact the IEI to see if your degree is accepted here. I work with a polish engineer, his degree was paired with an Irish degree and he has no issues.
    http://www.engineersireland.ie/

    However as stated above electrician issue is different. FAS may not recognise electricians from your country as similarly trained, or your qualification as that of an electrician. Even if you somehow manage to get a union card and regardless of what anyone tells you your qualification as a trades person has to meet the standards of our "standards based apprenticeships" this has proved difficult for non nationals, electricians from the UK, Australia etc don't seem to have an issue, but electricians from some of the Eastern European countries in my experience do.


    Best of luck trying to figure it out. I think that you will have more luck matching an engineering degree than a trade and they are very different here. That said work for engineers is difficult to get here now.


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