Thousands flock to jobs fair in RDS

Neither sunny weather nor the prospect of watching Ireland battle with Italy in the first of the Six Nations rugby matches was enough to deter thousands of visitors flocking to Europe's largest jobs fair.

Less than two hours after the FAS Opportunities 2001 careers fair opened on Saturday, more than 7,500 people had already passed through the RDS.

"The Celtic Tiger has camped here for the weekend," said Mr Greg Craig, director of FAS Opportunities 2001.

With more than 100,000 visitors expected at the four-day event, the exhibitors were always likely to be busy. "This year, we'll need 18,00020,000 new people, and half of them will have to come from abroad," said Mr Peter McCabe of the Construction Industry Federation, which has exhibited at the fair for the last four years.

Fears of a downturn in the PC industry did not deter the likes of Dell, Oracle, Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard from advertising vacancies at the fair.

The Defence Forces, with 1,000 vacancies, are seeking engineers, doctors, technicians, and other professionals. Opening the fair, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern heartily recommended a visit to the Army stand "because they protect me".

Indeed, if there was a prize for the most impressive stand in the show, it should surely go to the Defence Forces, who brought along several missile launchers and guns, computer surveillance equipment, a bomb disposal machine, a powerboat, and a tank.

Impressive too were the displays and demonstrations to be found in the "skills village", with a wide variety of trades and skills represented, including carpentry, hairdressing, plumbing, motor mechanics and digital video and media production.

But while the fair claimed to have something for everyone, not all agreed.

Mr John Morgan (29), from Belfast, who has a background in corporate banking, said he thought the fair was "just OK".

"I was expecting more in the way of financial positions. The fair is aimed very much at school-leavers and graduates, but the advertising made it seem like there was something for everyone. I did meet a couple of interesting people, though."