Exodus as workers swap downturn for Down Under
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A NEW wave of emigration among Ireland's young people has begun in the first week of 2009, as Irish travel agencies were swamped with hundreds of one-way bookings.
The exodus is across the board -- from construction workers to architects, as one travel agent put it.
As Ireland battens down the hatches for the toughest year in a quarter of a century, professionals and skilled workers are leading the massive migration.
In the past two months, Trailfinders, one of Ireland's leading travel specialists, has noted a 25 per cent increase in bookings to Australia, with visa applications up 35 per cent on last year. Dave Hayeems, general manager at Trailfinders, says the company has noted a dramatic turnaround in the nature of bookings in comparison to January 2008.
"Last year we had a lot of 30- to 40-year-olds booking high-spend holidays where they would be staying in luxury resorts and paying for it with their SSIA money or other savings. But now the trend has shifted towards skilled labourers and professionals in the 20 to 29 age bracket and Australia seems to be the dominant destination."
Mr Hayeems explained how flights to Australia are almost completely booked up for the first half of January.
"Bookings up until January 11 and 12 are very busy. There's a lot of talk about emigration, and we've had brickies and architects and everyone in between enquiring about flights.
"Only this morning staff were telling me how a significant number of workers from one particular Irish bank had been in contact to say that they were taking a year or two sabbatical and enquiring about round-the-world trips. So it's mainly professionals and tradesmen and people with skills who are travelling."
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has reported that emigration is at its highest level for nearly 20 years, with 45,300 workers leaving the country in the year to April 2008. The majority of these (11,300) have left for Australia and New Zealand.
As the Trailfinders manager explains: "Australia provides a core market for us so we are usually busy booking flights for that destination all year round. But recently staff at our visa desk have reported that every other caller is enquiring about visas to work there."
Engineers, social workers and interior designers are among the latest list of workers being sought by the Australian Government as part of its Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL).
The list is updated twice a year and prospective migrants who have occupations on this list get extra points towards their visa.
- NIAMH HORAN
