There are three routes open to school-leavers to get a qualification as a professional chef. The longest running and possibly best known of these is the National Tourism and Certification Board (NTCB) course in professional cookery. This two-year course is run under the auspices of CERT and is offered in nearly all ITs, the Shannon College of Hotel Management, Co Limerick, and Killybegs Tourism College, Co Donegal.

The qualification awarded is the national craft certificate in professional Cookery. This allows you to begin a career as a professional chef. The course has been running for more than 20 years and the qualification has become an industry standard.

The executive assistant in admissions at CERT, Nora Walsh, says a Leaving Cert is not required for admission, but candidates should be "of Leaving Cert standard". Selection is by interview and although no previous work experience is necessary, there is a lot of competition for places and "any experience would be viewed favourably", says Walsh.

DIT Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin, offers certificate and degree courses in culinary arts. Both these courses are available through the CAO. They provide a combination of practical and academic subjects to prepare graduates for a wide variety of careers while still providing a full qualification as a professional chef.

The two-year certificate course entitled culinary arts (catering for health) is now in its eighth year. It combines professional cookery training with academic study in sciences, nutrition, diets and diseases and languages.

Diet and health studies make up a large proportion of the course and graduates are qualified to work as food technicians or dieticians in hospitals and health centres. The head of apprenticeships at the catering department in Cathal Brugha Street, Joe Erraught, says that candidates qualified for these positions are becoming increasingly sought after. "It's a very interesting, challenging area to work in. You could be designing meals for a person with throat cancer, or diets for people in weight management clinics, or for sports people."

Job prospects for graduates are exceptionally good, according to Erraught. "You never hear of these people looking for jobs - the jobs come looking for them."

The four-year degree course is just in its second year and it is almost unique, according to Erraught. "There are only three courses of this kind in the world and there is nothing else like it in Europe." The course aims to produce high-calibre, professional chefs, but graduates have "almost limitless" options open to them says Erraught. "Supermarkets now want their buyers to be professional chefs. Industry wants chefs for product development. Our graduates are even educated in food photography and writing. It's such an excellently rounded education." Graduates of the course are awarded a BA (culinary arts).

French and German are included in both the degree and the certificate courses. John Clancy, former president of the Panel of Chefs, which is the national chefs' association, is particularly impressed with this element. "This is a career that allows you to travel the world. It's so varied and qualified Irish chefs are welcome everywhere."

Clancy says that the job opportunities are ever-widening. "Chefs still work in the traditional settings of hotels and restaurants, but institutional contracts are becoming more popular and cruise liners are also a fantastic place to work."

Clancy advises anyone interested in becoming a chef to get a professional qualification, whether it is NTCB, certificate or degree. "Finish your college time and training, then you are a free agent and you will be highly employable."

Chefs often work very long hours, although Clancy claims this is generally out of a love for the job. Areas like product development can be very lucrative, but a commis chef starting off can earn as little as £120 a week and chef de partie earns about £18,000 -£20,000 a year. Clancy stresses that these are not fixed rates and with chefs being very much in demand, particularly with the huge hotel-building boom in Dublin, chefs can often name their price.

"Times have changed," he says. "Irish people travel more and they know what good food is. In the catering industry we have to meet their standards of expectation."