Crowds flock to working abroad expo

THERE WERE buggies everywhere yesterday at the WorkingAbroad Expo in Dublin.

Shiny-faced babies looked out of them – babies who, if their parents’ plans go ahead, won’t remember that Ireland was once their home.

There were young children there too, with parents in their 30s and 40s, shifting with boredom in queues for Advantage Migration Australia or Manpower New Zealand, unaware of the changes that could lie ahead.

And there were graduates, bright-eyed, enthusiastic and unemployed.

The WorkingAbroad Expo, which included stands and seminars from recruitment agencies, governments, employers and service providers abroad, has been running for seven years.

It used to cater for the 20,000 young people every year who wanted working holidays. Those attending yesterday were older, many with families facing difficult choices and all needing more than just a widened horizon.

For Paddy Kane and his wife Paula Goonan Kane from Navan, Co Meath, the decision to leave had already been made. He would have to go somewhere to earn enough money so they could pay their mortgage. She would remain at home looking after their two youngest children. It was a simple question of maths.

At 50, they hope Paddy, a miner by trade, is not too old. He has been unemployed for 18 months, but worked for 35 years before that.

“It doesn’t stand for anything,” he said.

The new Government had come too late, Paula said. Time had run out and they couldn’t wait around for it to sort things out.

“My husband will have to go and we’ll have to stay.”

John Murphy (24) from Clontarf, Dublin, was queuing to speak to Australian migration visa lawyers. The carpenter was laid off last December.

“They let you go as soon as you’re qualified,” he said.

He worked in Queensland before so this time around his only option was to find an employer and get sponsorship.

Karen O’Leary from Carlow said her husband – also a carpenter – had been laid off as soon as he was qualified in 2009. They wanted to move to Canada or Australia with their two small children, aged three and one.

The EBS, where they had their mortgage, had been very good to them, she said, but it was in arrears and their interest-only arrangement was up soon.

They would rent out their property because they couldn’t cover the mortgage if they sold it.

“We have to leave as soon as possible,” she said.

There were recruiters looking for civil engineers at the exhibition, including construction company Fulton Hogan.

According to David Walsh from WorkingAbroad, 800 jobs in construction would also be available soon with a company working in the rebuild of Christchurch.

There was also demand for health service employees.

Dr Alicia Tucker from the Royal Hobart Hospital in Tasmania was at the exhibition to attract specialist nurses and doctors to work there. She said she was overwhelmed by the number of people looking to leave Ireland.

“To see young families and even older workers keen to move to the other side of the world is very sobering,” she said.

“They are so desperate to try and better themselves.”