New Zealand seeks Irish workers

The Earthquake Commission (EQC) of New Zealand has said it wants to recruit Irish construction workers as part of a major rebuilding project in Christchurch following three major earthquakes in the region over the last 12 months.

At a media briefing in the country’s second largest city this weekend, the head of the Commission Ian Simpson said around 100,000 houses needed repairs and he estimated that as many as 8,000 labourers would be required to complete the reconstruction work.

Mr Simpson said that while there was still a lot of labourers available in New Zealand there would almost certainly be a need to go overseas to recruit qualified people.

He said “initial approaches” had been made in Ireland. ”We know there are similar workers - English speaking, large unemployment rate of skilled workers, so we can bring those in when we need them.''

Many of the positions currently being advertised by the Commission are permanent and have salaries ranging from €30,000 to €60,000.

A 6.3 magnitude quake in February was the most severe of a string of shakes in Christchurch and its surrounding Canterbury region over the last 12 months and much the city is still in ruins with entire suburbs declared uninhabitable.

Mr Simpson said and emergency repairs had now been carried out on 22,000 homes through to keep them watertight, warm and secure and €800 billion in compensation to victims of the disasters.

An ambitious blueprint to rebuild the city was unveiled earlier this week. . When Christchurch's mayor Bob Parker launched the plans he said they offered a vision of a “safe, sustainable, green, high-tech, low-rise city in a garden”.

The Construction Industry Federation welcomed the news that workers from Ireland would be actively sought but expressed concern that the industry would lose more workers to emigration.