Irish New York Exhibition Offers Gateway Home

A special exhibition will take place at the Affinia Manhattan Hotel on Friday, 20thOctober and Saturday, 21st October where thousands of people are expected to show up to find out more information about living and working in Ireland.

This exhibition will provide essential information to those living in the U.S. which will help them make an informed choice about moving home. Visitors to the exhibition will be updated on relocation issues which will affect them and their families including taxation, pensions, health insurance and education.

Gregory Craig, Director of FÁS, will be in New York for the exhibition comments, "Many of the Irish living in the States may have emigrated to seek opportunity during the eighties when jobs were scare in Ireland. We are here in New York to remind the Irish how Ireland has evolved and now offers a wealth of opportunity for those wanting to move home. Key attractions include the buoyant jobs market, quality of life, free third level education which can be key deciding factor, longer annual holidays, sense of community and state support for the family.

Gareth Noonan and his family recently moved back to Ireland to live in Ennis, Co. Limerick, having lived for six years in the States, comments "There were quite a few appealing elements which enticed us to move home - free third level education was a huge deciding factor. Third level is not free in the States and it can cost up to half a million US dollars to put 2 children through college. Ireland also offers longer holidays .... having just 2 weeks holidays each year in the States was putting a huge strain on the family - we just weren't getting enough time with the children. Sarah was working from 7 in the morning until 7 at night and heading back to work after just 6 weeks maternity leave - that was extremely tough".

Visitors to the exhibition can expect advice from the Department of Social and Family Affairs; the Construction Industry Federation, the Irish Revenue Commissioners, Enterprise Ireland, VHI Healthcare and FÁS Jobs Ireland. The Western Development Commission is one body which will be taking the opportunity to encourage those living in the States to look towards moving to the West of Ireland.

The lower cost of living, competitive property prices, job prospects and quality of life are all factors which work in favour of the West. The online recruitment medium, loadzajobs.ie, will looking to New York to fill jobs in excess of 20,000 which are advertised on the site.

The financial services sector in Ireland is booming, especially the investment funds industry which recorded 35% growth in 2005 and the numbers of people employed in the industry increased by 13%. The Dublin Fund Industry Association (DFIA) will also be in New York looking to meet people with financial services expertise. Deirdre Norris, Director - Marketing and Communications, Dublin Fund Industry Association comments, "There is an increased requirement for people with financial expertise - through the exhibition in New York we can tap into people who may look towards moving back to Ireland to work in the investment funds area. There is wealth of opportunity, not just based in Dublin's IFSC, but across the country in centres such as Kilkenny, Cork, Meath, Wexford, Waterford, Galway and Limerick".

Deirdre continues, "We will be looking for people in key areas including investment funds professionals, fund accountants, hedge fund accountants, client relationship managers, shareholder services, transfer agency - those with legal expertise will also interest us, particularly in the area of compliance

The Construction Industry Federation (CIF) will be providing advice on an extensive range of career opportunities available in the construction industry in Ireland. They are particularly looking to recruit project managers, quantity surveyors, engineering technicians and architects to meet market requirements over the next 3 years.

The FÁS Jobs Ireland Exhibition will take place on Friday, 20th October (5pm to 8pm) and Saturday, 21st October (10am to 5pm) at the Affinia Manhattan Hotel, 7th Avenue at 31st Street, 371 Seventh Avenue, New York. Further information can be obtained by calling FÁS on 011 353 1 607 0500.