A former painter and decorator who lost his job in the recession has won second place in a prestigious international culinary competition.

Billy Maher from Co Louth was one point away from clinching first place in the International Culinary Schools Tapas Competition in Spain last week.

Maher, who always wanted to be a chef before he lost his job, did a 16-week training course in culinary skills with Fáilte Ireland before winning a place last month in the contest, which saw him pitched against professional chefs and privately-schooled trainees.

He was the only representative for Ireland and the UK in the competition, and prepared a Spanish tapas version of fish and chips.

Maher travelled to Valladolid early last week with his culinary instructor, Martin Potts, to compete in the final where he had 15 minutes to reproduce 10 identical portions of his tapas recipe in front of expert judges, spectators, media and an internet audience.

Asked whether he would consider returning to painting and decorating, Maher said: "There is no way I would, are you joking me? Just from competing against people who are paying up to €40,000 in private and prestigious schools and then competing against actual professional chefs I realised I have achieved something and I fully plan on becoming a good chef. I was one point away from winning first place, and I am going to bring my experiences back to Ireland with me now and start making my way as a chef."

One judge approached Maher while he was preparing his fish and chips tapas and said: "I don't know what this is in front of me, but I am looking forward to tasting it".

According to Maher, once he explained that he had created a Spanish version of what is almost an Irish staple, the judges were impressed.

He returned home on Friday to his "proud and delighted" family in Louth.

"What the kids really want to know is what I brought them back from Spain," he said.