“Dr Bertie Collinswas at thatmeeting onWednesday, April 9th, 1969, at Powers Hotel, Dublin, and the Institute was formally brought to life”.


At ameeting in Powers Hotel, nowmore widely known as Buswell’s, onWednesday, April 9th, 1969, the Irish Institute of TrainingManagers was founded.


With the introduction of the Industrial Training Act in 1967, An Chomhairle Oiluna, the Training Council, was established. This became known as AnCO, which went on to become FÁS, and, more recently, SOLAS.


The obligated companies contributed to a training fund called the Levy Grant Systemand their payments varied between 0.75%and 1.25%of their annual emoluments, depending on the size of the company. That payment was generally written off by the company, unless they had a trainingmanager or officer in place. In order to benefit fromthe fund – whichmeant the company could recoup the levy – their trainingmanager had to implement a certain amount of training within the company during the year.


In effect, reclaiming the levy became the rationale for appointing a trainingmanager, and companies often poached good training managers fromsmaller organisations.


Trainingmanagers and officers were obliged to attend at least onemodule per year of the TrainingManagers Programme – a course designed and delivered by the IrishManagement Institute and run for several years in the International Hotel in Bray.


There were twomodules run each year, each of three weeks duration and run in the hotel as a five-day residential course.


And it was at one of these courses that the foundingmembers of the Institute of TrainingManagers (ITM)met for the first time. Pat Campbell, Fellow of the IITD and former President of the Institute, paid 10 shillings to enrol during that period, and recalls those initial years of the ITM: “My clear recollection is that having completed the IMI programme the idea of setting up an Association or Institute emerged fromwithin the groups of those having completed the programme with themission of staying in touch and sharing experiences.


Campbell recalls events after the original IMI course: “Each group was invited to attend ameeting in a hotel in Dublin to hear a recruitment presentation given by George Ledwidth.”


Dr Bertie Collins, one of those foundingmembers of the IITM, was at thatmeeting, which took place onWednesday, April 9th, 1969 at Powers Hotel, and the Institute was formally brought to life.


Dr Collins wrote in the IITD’smagazine in 1994, commemorating the Institute’s 25th anniversary, how the initial organisers did not waste any time.Within amonth a comprehensive set of


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articles of Association was produced and sent to all the members. By October of that year, the first ‘Education and Training News’ was produced. It was sent to allmembers and sold fromnewsstands (at a cost of five shillings).


Astonishingly, this ambitious fledgling association hosted the first International Training Convention in November of 1969 – barely sixmonths after its establishment – a testament to the drive, energy and ambition, and belief in the cause, of the founders.


That first convention was held over three days at the RDS, attracted 145 exhibitors (fromIreland, England, France and USA) and over 100 delegates attended. Even though that was held some 50 years ago, the issues raised then remain the same in 2019 – the theme for that convention was ‘New Horizons in Industrial Training’ – which could be aligned with ‘Future Proofing the Talent in your Organisation’ in contemporary times.


Dr Collins wrote in the 1994magazine: “The first year of the Institute’s existence was a trulymemorable one for the people who brought it into being in 1969. The few years which followed were devoted to developing the organisation and setting up the structures to ensure its survival and development. To begin with Regional Chapters Locations were organised in Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway (which included Sligo and Donegal). This was a busy time with longmeetings at least once everymonth.”


Thosemeetings generally took place in the Aisling Hotel in Dublin on Saturdays, with Chaptermembers travelling fromall over Ireland to attend. Over the years the Association, soon to be called the IITD, grew in numbers and was run primarily by volunteers showing an incredible level of commitment to a cause and profession they believed in.


In those early days, the IITD annual conferences ran over three days and were quite significant at the time, attracting the attention of the Government and the nationalmedia.


Since then, the IITD has grown fromstrength-to-strength, formed an incredibly strongmember-base, and employs six full-time staff.


One wonders if the founders of the Irish Institute of Training Managers were aware of the legacy they started and that their hard work and dedication in 1969 would be celebrated in 2019.


And as for the next 50?Who knows?


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