The primary factor drawing Patricia Morrison back to her homeland Ireland from London is familial ties. She anticipates facing a shortage of rental homes in her native place, Co Mayo, along with limited local employment prospects and a nine-month wait for a creche spot.
After spending 11 years in the UK’s construction industry, Morrison, a mother of two, contemplates relocating to Ireland and commuting to her workplace in London. This consideration arises from the scarcity of prospects related to her profession in areas apart from Dublin.
She has expressed criticism over a proposed advertising campaign aimed at encouraging overseas-based Irish construction professionals to return, referring to it as an absolute misuse of finances. The governmental plan is to launch this campaign in areas like London and Sydney, Australia, in a bid to lure back skilled individuals as their country’s sector is going through a tough phase finding competent personnel.
The Department of Higher and Further Education recently found that they required 50,000 construction workers to achieve governmental housing and retrofitting goals by 2030.
Investigations are being conducted by the department to understand the factors that drive emigrated construction workers and their insights. This information would set the fundamental structure for the campaign.
Uncertainties prevail over whether the initiative would offer any aids to returning Irish construction workers. The campaign is a component of a €750,000 government scheme to endorse construction careers in Ireland, all with a motive to assist the state in accomplishing its housing goals.
35-year-old Morrison, a project manager, narrated her journey of moving to London post her graduation from the University of Galway in 2013. Her belief was that achieving rapid career growth in Ireland’s construction sector would be much tougher being a woman. Apart from the proximity to her kin, she stated no other incentive to work in Ireland’s construction industry.
The main reason is indeed family, she confessed. They plan to live with her parents due to the unavailability of any rental space in Mayo.
On her previous online rental search in Louisburgh, Co Mayo, she found a solitary available place, a one-bedroom apartment for €750 a month, unsuitable for her family.
Morrison had talks with recruitment agencies in Ireland who assured her of job availability in Dublin because of her experience in London, however, Dublin is not affordable enough for her, she confessed.
One woman has shared her predicament of having her child waiting for a creche spot in County Mayo for nearly a year, along with 40 other youngsters. She often fields questions from her British partner about why they keep returning there. Now that her maternity leave is just about to come to an end, she has started toying with the idea of commuting to London three days a week, after getting settled back in County Mayo. She observes that Knock Airport is regularly bustling with Irish construction workers, heading to London at the start of the work week and making their return on Fridays.
She speculates that they find it less costly and more straightforward to take up jobs in London and accommodate themselves in lodgings throughout the work week, rather than choosing to live in, or commute to, Dublin. In the UK, she notes, there is a surprising concentration of Irish construction workers, many of whom are newly qualified and seeking better compensation and opportunities.
Meanwhile, Irish construction personnel based in Australia seem to paint a similar picture. Damascus Ennis, residing in Sydney, shared that after 16 years there, no advertisement campaign can make him change his stance. He hears about the tough challenges one faces upon returning to Ireland, and this discourages him. This 39-year-old man has heard some alarming tales from friends who have moved back home, often facing hassles around housing, insurance, and mortgages.
He explains that the challenges faced by people who have returned home and regretted their decision are preventing others from following suit. These people hope to return to their hometowns and live near their parents, but find it tough to get a decent job or maintain a good quality of life. As a design manager, even major projects coming up in Ireland haven’t fascinated him enough to make him consider a return. He finds it disappointing that, having worked on infrastructure projects amounting to $AUS60 billion (€36.5 billion) in the past decade, the Dublin Metro he hears about hasn’t even reached the halfway mark despite being in the works for 20 years.
Hailing from Dromcollogher, Co Limerick, Ennis spent his initial three years post graduation working in his home country, reaping the benefits of the abundant job opportunities provided by the Celtic Tiger era. However, before the Irish economy took a downturn, he relocated to Australia, initially with the intention of a year-long stay.
Ennis and his compatriots soon realised that returning to Ireland for work seemed pointless. Commenting on the work scene in Sydney, Ennis stated that there’s scarcely a construction site devoid of an Irish worker. With opportunities for drainage, digging, and concreting works, Irish workers are often at the helm. Moreover, the remuneration for skilled professionals in Australia is commendable, he added.
Paul Lynch (34), originally from Mullagh, Co Clare, also moved to Sydney in 2014. He attempted multiple times to relocate to Ireland, but found settling back in his homeland difficult. When Lynch returned to Ireland in 2016 and then again in 2022, he faced the hardships of unaffordable city accommodation and lack of job opportunities in his line of work in Co Clare. These difficulties led him back to Sydney last year.
“I have a longing to move back to Ireland, but the financial practicalities bar me. Securing a mortgage and managing the construction costs for my own house seem out of reach and I’m at a loss for what to do,” Lynch expresses. He’s employed as an excavator operator with an Irish-owned construction firm in Sydney, where he estimates that about 75% of the workforce is Irish. According to Lynch, there has been a substantial influx of Irish people into the city over the recent year.
The Department of Home Affairs in Australia recorded the issuing of 21,525 working holiday visas to Irish citizens between July 2022 to last July – the largest number since 2011/2012 when 25,827 visas were issued. Furthermore, 13,000 additional working visas have been sanctioned for “skilled” Irish construction workers since then.
The cumulative figure of Irish construction workers employed globally is currently unidentifiable. An increase in emigration of Irish nationals was recorded from 27,600 to 30,500 throughout the year leading up to last April. Concurrently, the number of Irish nationals repatriating increased from 28,900 in 2022 to 29,600 over the same period, as per the most recent records from the Central Statistics Office.
Lynch identifies improved work conditions and lifestyle as the main motivators drawing Irish nationals overseas. He draws a stark contrast between circumstances both at home and abroad. He asserts that any attempt to persuade Irish construction workers to come back, particularly considering the ongoing situation, would seemingly be a futile investment.
He openly states that the domestic circumstances are common knowledge. Suitable living arrangements for construction workers, along with the populace at large, are difficult to come by, and the salary scale seldom aligns with the living expenses.
Furthermore, he perceives an ingrained mindset within the Irish construction sector where workers are expected to perform a multitude of tasks for minimal pay.