French influx for jobs in Ireland

EVERY year, hundreds of young French men arrive in the Republic looking for something they can no longer find in France: jobs.

Ireland is now the third-largest employer of French men abroad, after Britain and Germany, Mr Daniel Chenillat, director of the French National Agency For Employment (ANPE) international told The Irish Times.

One reason is that non-European companies setting up in the Republic get tax breaks. The State's 12.4 per cent unemployment is lower than France's 12.7 per cent rate. And Irish unemployment is falling while in France it continues to rise.

"Opportunities for French men in Ireland are limited to certain sectors, mainly high-tech companies like Microsoft, Gateway 2000, IBM, and America On- Line," Mr Chenillat said. These companies run their European operations out of Ireland and need foreign-language speakers.

Much of their equipment maintenance is done by telephone; many French computer experts hired by Irish-based companies speak French all day, responding to freephone calls from customers in France. "The caller doesn't even realise he's talking to someone in Dublin, Shannon or Cork" said Mr Serge Marcozzi, a counsellor at the ANPE-International.

Although information technology is also booming in France, French companies are reluctant to hire recent graduates. The ANPE International placed about 150 young French men in Ireland last year. None could find a job in France. It is not known how many more found jobs in Ireland on their own, but the number is believed to be substantial. The ANPE-International has invited large companies in Ireland to visit Paris this spring to organise recruitment.

Recently, Mr Chenillat said, the agency had received requests for French hotel and restaurant workers. By comparison, some 800 French men found jobs in England through the ANPE-International last year, while Germany hired 200 French workers.

Two hundred of 1,500 employees at Gateway 2000 headquarters in Clonshaugh are French, Mr Marcozzi said. Gateway plans to hire another 1,200 workers this year, and several will also be French. "I've been in the canteen at Gateway," Mr Marcozzi added. "It's like a university campus. The average age is about 25."

To qualify for a job in Ireland, a French man needs a background in computer science and to be bilingual. Mr Marcozzi said: "In the beginning we didn't demand English because they work in French all the time. Then we realised that those who didn't speak English well were not integrating into Irish society. They returned quickly to France.

"But most get along well in Ireland," Mr Marcozzi continued. "Because the Irish mentality is more jovial, more Mediterranean than the English or Germans. The French find the pace of Ireland more calm than life in Paris. Most of the people we send are single young men. A lot of couples get together over there. I think there will be a thriving Franco-Irish community in the future."