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Generation Emigration

Generation Emigration

The Irish Times forum by and for Irish citizens abroad

Monthly Archives: February 2013

expo2 Working Abroad Expo in Dublin and Cork
  • News
  • February 28, 2013, 19:11

More than 70 recruiters, employers and government immigration officials from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East will be at this weekend’s event, with jobs on offer in construction, healthcare and hospitality.

The family spend their summer holidays at Lake Como in Italy, close to the Swiss border. Swiss life through a Cavan girl’s eyes

Ireland will always be ‘home’, but Switzerland, with its stunning natural beauty, outdoors lifestyle and excellent healthcare system, is where my family’s future lies, writes Claire Moran

Patrick McKenna 10 things to consider when moving abroad: by a long-term emigrant

Patrick McKenna, who left Ireland for Canada 35 years ago, suggests a list of questions people should ask themselves when they are considering emigration

JPa The Leaving: a poem

This old familiar story of heading back to/The mainland, to so-called ambition and economics./History repeating history, poet rendering poet, a country/That cannot hold its citizens within its grasp.

Moving2Canada1 Moving2Canada to offer recruitment service

The hugely successful website for Irish people Moving2Canada has set up a new recruitment agency to help Irish workers connect with Canadian employers

Máire Coffey and Tommy Courtney in the Young Ireland strip Young Ireland Sydney: the oldest and most successful GAA club in NSW

Young Ireland Sydney was founded in 1969 and ever since then it has provided a home away from home for Irish people in Sydney and New South Wales, writes Máire Coffey.

Eoin O'Liathain (TCD Phil) opens the Irish Times Debate. Photograph: Pacemaker ‘This house would emigrate’: The 53rd Irish Times Debate final
  • News
  • February 23, 2013, 09:05

The TCD Bram Stoker Club last night won The Irish Times Debate held in the Riddel Hall, Queen’s University Belfast, on the topic of emigration.

Why has there been such a drop in numbers applying for working holiday visas for Australia? Number of Irish applying for Australian working holiday visas falls dramatically

New figures published by the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship today show the number of Irish citizens granted working holiday visas in the second half of 2012 was down 28.8 per cent on the same period in 2011.

sarahmurphy ‘Nepal is where I’m beginning to see my future’

A six-month stint at an orphanage in Kathmandu has turned into a life-changing commitment, relates SARAH MURPHY

Michelle Carpenter in Perth Disappointed by the Australian dream

I wished so much for Australia to be the land of opportunity for me, but it has turned out to be nothing like I imagined, writes Michelle Carpenter.

kiuhoiuh Record your emigration story for new sound art project
  • News
  • February 20, 2013, 14:34

Irish emigrants are being asked to share their stories for an upcoming interactive sound installation, ‘_liminal State’, at the Centre for Creative Practices in Dublin.

dfa Emigrant Support Programme application deadline looms
  • News
  • February 19, 2013, 15:22

The Emigrant Support Programme, which provides funding to Irish organisations around the world through the Department of Foreign Affairs’ Irish Abroad Unit, will close applications for this year tomorrow, February 20th.

Recent trends from Irish visa agent

Average age of visa applicants jumped from 29 to 32, while number of spousal applications for Australia doubled. The number of teachers, welders, solicitors and IT professionals looking to emigrate increased, but the number of architects and engineers fell.

Working in Alexandria, Sydney: Blánaid Clerkin from Co Meath and Alison Leydon from Co Roscommon. Photograph: James Horan Stop the lights: the Irish women working in Sydney traffic control

Pádraig Collins had a great article in The Irish Times Magazine on Saturday about how the traffic control system on construction sites in Sydney is dominated by young women from Ireland.

bbc Video: BBC series to explore emigration from Northern Ireland
  • News
  • February 17, 2013, 09:00

Almost 25,000 people emigrated from Northern Ireland last year. A new series will explore the stories behind the statistics, “following those who are planning to leave, and those that are left behind, the preparation and packing, the hopes and fears and the tearful farewells”.

niall I arrived looking for signs of despair, but saw only smiles

On a recent visit home, Dublin emigrant Niall McArdle found that his city had changed less than expected. But he was different.

Cathy Murphy with Ontario minister of immigration Charles Sousa, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, Candian immigration minister Jason Kenney and Eamonn O’Loghlin at the opening of the Irish Canadian Immigration Centre. Irish Canadian Immigration Centre offers assistance to thousands in first year

It is only 12 months since the Irish Canadian Immigration Centre opened its doors to assist the thousands of Irish emigrants flocking to the country. Cathy Murphy, Director of the Toronto based Centre, tells Gráinne Burns about the vital role of the outreach service in the country.

Hotter than hell? Donald Clarke says he would never live in a place where the sun 'strips the skin from your bones', but would he change his mind if he lived there? Photograph: Getty Images Have your say: have your preconceptions changed since you settled in your second home?

Did you have preconceptions about the country or city you now live in before you arrived? Were they right, or has your opinion of the place changed since you settled there? What has surprised you about the people or culture? We want to hear from you.

Patrick McKenna When the Irish became white: immigrants in mid-19th century US

Inspired by Black History Month, Patrick McKenna shares what he has learned of the history of Irish immigrants and Abolition in the US in the mid-19th century

Joanne Barry, Anne O’Donnell, Jonathan Kelliher and Tom Hanafin. Photograph: Michelle Crean/Kerry’s Eye National Folk Theatre wants your emigration story

The National Folk Theatre at Siamsa Tíre is gathering stories from Irish emigrants and immigrants living in Ireland for a new stage production in September. Here’s how to submit yours…

denisehessionthumb ‘Every time I go home, it gets harder to come back’

WILD GEESE: Denise Hession, blogger, Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi is good for families, but consider costs when weighing up salaries

Joe Buggy with his father Michael shortly before his wedding in 2010 Death at a distance: the worst phone call an emigrant can get

No one wants to hear a loved one is gravely ill, or worse, but being abroad makes it even harder to bear, writes Ciara Kenny

Orla Kelleher, executive director of the Aisling Irish Community Center in Woodlawn, New York Working holiday visas, Presidential speeches, and the continuing debate about ‘Ireland abandoners’
  • News
  • February 7, 2013, 11:36

Articles relating to emigration and the Irish abroad this week.

Eoin Staying involved in Irish politics from afar

I would urge all Irish people living abroad to re-engage with the political system in Ireland and call for a vote in elections, regardless of whatever political hue you may have, writes Eoin Neylon

2023 2023: Regeneration from emigration?

The Irish Times published a special supplement today envisioning what Ireland could look like in 2023. Ciara Kenny imagines a new series called ‘Regeneration from Emigration’, following the lives of Irish emigrants returning to the auld sod, reinvigorating the country in the process.

cash Have your say: Do you send money home from abroad?

More than $500 billion was sent in remittances by migrants back to their home countries last year, according to World Bank estimates. If you’re an Irish emigrant living abroad, or a non-Irish person living in Ireland, do you send money home to support family members, to pay a mortgage or loan, or for any other reason?

Jane Lawrenson back in Dublin Back to the land of Pats for the expat

The more involved I become with this country again, the more my eyes are opened to what was there all along, writes Jane Lawrenson on her return from Canada.

barry thumb Diary entry: Job hunting in London, 1979

‘Only a moral dwarf would even consider accepting a job like this. — And I was that dwarf.’ Barry McKinley shares an entry from his diary in 1979 when he first left home to work in the UK, which ‘shows how things change, and yet stay the same’.

Canadian visa quota filled in record time

The Canadian working holiday visa quota for Irish people has already been filled for this year, in less than four days after applications opened.

Canadian visa quota for Irish almost full
  • News
  • February 1, 2013, 11:57

Eighty per cent of the 6,350 Canadian working holiday visas available for Irish people this year have already been snapped up, just three days after applications opened.

Entrepreneur sees the light

WILD GEESE : Ian Carroll, Hong Kong Candle Company : After a difficult start, Ian Carroll’s candle business is burning brightly

A Facebook page, now removed, accused Irish emigrants of abandoning their country in its time of need, and has met with a volatile reaction online. Photograph: Cyril Byrne Debate: are emigrants abandoning Ireland, or has it abandoned them?

A Facebook page has accused emigrants of being ‘Ireland Abandoners’. In The Irish Times today, two young Irish people, home and abroad, weigh up the debate