'Stand your ground and show your independence' - Leitrim female construction worker

Rachel Foley, 26, Kinlough, Leitrim, a construction Health and Safety Officer, has this week spoken to the Leitrim Observer about being a female worker in a male-dominated industry and advises any women who wish to follow in her footsteps to follow their dreams.

Rachel studied Occupational Safety and Health in Sligo for four years and said there were just six other females on the course. 

Rachel, who is also an influencer, also has a keen interest in cars and creates a lot of auto-related content for her Instagram and TikTok accounts. "A lot of my followers are from me being into cars because not many girls are; it's a stereotypical boy hobby. Once I started doing pageants, my followers increased a lot more. I had a lot of girls message and tell me that I was a great influence because I was doing both the pageants and cars."

Rachel, who also bagged the title of Miss Galaxy Emerald Isle in 2024, said that being involved in pageantry as well as working in construction is "the best of both worlds".

An ambassador for Fettle, an online platform that connects those seeking counselling with qualified therapists, she is currently undertaking her second course in Mental Health First Aid training.

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She told us: "I use my influence to inspire girls; especially with my job in construction. It is very intimidating being a young girl and going onsite; the men are a lot older than you and most of them are in construction longer than I'm alive. So they didn't take me too seriously at the start. You just have to stand your ground and show your independence and that you are here for a reason and deserve to be in the sector just as much as anybody else."

She said that she delayed starting in the sector due to her fears that as a woman, she would be overlooked. "When I was looking for jobs, going onto a construction site really did intimidate me and I was actually putting off starting because of that. I'm glad I just went for it and bit the bullet."

Rachel said that undergoing Mental Health First Aid training as part of her job was something very close to her heart. "This is my second time doing the course. My last certificate expired in March so I'm doing it again so that it lasts another four years. When I suffered with mental health myself; my problem was that I never spoke out about it or went to therapy. We need to break down the stereotype of there 'being something wrong with someone' and make it Ok for people to go for a chat if they are not feeling good."

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She concluded: "It is a good thing to have in terms of my job; statistically the rate of suicides among young men who work in construction is very high. A lot of them are working on the other side of the country from where they live. Me being from Leitrim, I'm working in Dublin because there are no jobs in Leitrim so I had to travel. It's the same with 90 per cent of the men working on site; they have to come down here. Because I do have a good following and influence, I do like to speak about it as well, so if someone does message me, at least I can give them the correct information and am trained in it."

You can follow Rachel on Instagram here and TikTok here.