Putting Galway in the driving seat

By Dermot Keys

Galway may be best known for its culture and its nightlife but a new Chauffeur School plans to make the city synonymous with executive driver training in Ireland.

MPM Associates has opened Ireland’s first and only chauffeur school in Ballybrit to respond to the increasing demand for professionally-trained drivers. The Professional Executive Driver Training Courses are run by the former Galway Mayoral Driver, Danny Maguire, along with Ronan McLoughlin and Catherine Penston of Right Track Training and Professional Bodyguards Ireland.

It is a novel idea but Danny told the Galway City Tribune that the motivation behind setting up the course was the complete lack of accredited training opportunities within Ireland.

“I always wanted to do these courses but they were never available,” he explained.

“In the industry, you can go out and get a licence and call yourself a chauffeur but you are not professionally trained. There has never been any training involved. It is like someone saying they can add up numbers and calling themselves an accountant.”

Danny has extensive experience in the industry and he has worked with the United States Secret Service and with numerous celebrities in the past as well as being the Mayoral driver in Galway. Despite his own hands-on experience, he recalls the first time that he attended a protection course.

“I went to the first protection course and it was an eye opener. It just proved that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. You may have many years experience but, when you sit down in a classroom, you realise that there is a lot more that you never knew.”

The new training courses offer three different levels of courses – the Professional Executive Driver Training, Advanced Executive Protection Driver training, and the Specialist Executive Protection Driver - City & Guilds Close Protection Level 3.

A number of the graduates from the course have already gained employment in the London Olympics and four others have recently travelled over to London for interviews.

“We have provided a number of drivers for the Olympics. It’s great as we are training them to the Security Industry Authority UK standard, so once they are certified by the academy they can get work without a problem.”

Danny added that they are also hopeful of securing more business when the Volvo Ocean Race visits the city.

The basic course teaches people all the skills needed to be a qualified chauffeur, including driving skills, etiquette and protocol, convoy driving, vehicle maintenance, manual handling and deportment. The course also helps prospective drivers feel confident in the role.

“What we found was that the professional training was a huge benefit to the drivers and it gives them great confidence and self esteem. You have to be confident. That’s what it is all about. That is what these courses do.”

Danny added that there is a demand for trained professionals in this region.

“We get quite a few people like celebrities or foreign dignitaries who are travelling through the West of Ireland. These people come in and they require a certain standard of professional driver to work with them.

“It is about knowing how to behave around celebrities and foreign dignitaries. I have been asked by clients to provide professionally-trained drivers. I can only do so much myself so, by training other drivers, I can supply the demand for professional drivers. “We may not know them personally so we cannot make any guarantees of future employment but we can put them all on our database.”

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.