Posts Tagged ‘Irish Independent’

Construction Jobs – Downturn – What downturn?

Thursday, February 14th, 2008


Construction Sector Jobs

Construction Jobs in Ireland

If you have been hibernating for the last year you will have missed the fact that the golden sector of Ireland has stuttered and is grinding to a halt. Negative news about the housing sector and of course layoffs and job losses. I have had numerous conversations with people inside and outside the construction sector and I have received contrasting opinions about the actual impact.

Today I was reading the Jobs & Careers section of the Irish Independent (no relation) and I could not help notice something strange about the construction jobs section. OK – it has been shrinking in size for some time BUT most of the agency advertisements were for overseas jobs and careers. Australia, New Zealand, London, Dubai and Abu Dhabi were some of the locations listed.

Micheal O’Leary was complemented about his honesty on his recent assessment of the aviation sector. Can an advert titled “downturn – what downturn” in the construction jobs section be a complemented for its honesty. Interestingly the same advert indicated it has career opportunities home and ABROAD.

Can we put a positive spin for those affected by the construction sector decline?

The above locations have a better climate, better work life balance with no M50.

Education – what are we actually studying?

Wednesday, February 6th, 2008


In a previous post I pointed out that GMIT was offering students $1,000 euro (excuse the dollar sign) to study science. I now read today in the Irish Indo there are concerns about the number of Leaving Cert students studying languages and also business subjects like economics, accounting and business studies.

Am I correct to assume that we are quickly running out of subjects? What subjects are students actually studying? Has the rise of celebrity chefs inspired all school goers to take up home economics?