Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
ONE THIRD of Ireland’s 450,000 unemployed people could potentially find jobs in Western Australia, according to the state’s jobs minister.
Minister for Energy, Training and Workforce Development Peter Collier said the region faces a shortfall of 150,000 workers by 2017. Referring to figures showing 457,948 people on Ireland’s Live Register last month, he told TheJournal.ie: “Well, we can look after a third of those.”
Mr Collier, who was speaking during a visit to Ireland to recruit workers, added: “Perhaps that’s being flippant, but what we’ll be doing is opening the doors to anyone.
We need more workers, and we’re looking for people from now. There are projects out there now that are slowing down because we don’t have enough workers.
Western Australia is currently in the middle of a resource boom, with planned mining and gas extraction projects worth €145billion on the table. However, Mr Collier said there is a need for a broad range of workers. “It’s not just in construction, or automotive, or electrical,” he said, adding that they are seeking staff in the hospitality, retail, aged care, health, education, disability services and tourism industries.
He added they are co-operating with the federal Australian government to expedite visas for potential Irish migrants. “We’re working to accelerate the process,” he said. “But also to offer more versatility. We’ll work with our federal colleagues to ensure if barriers exist from a purely visa perspective, that those barriers are removed.”
Mr Collier held a recruitment seminar at Dublin’s Citywest Hotel last night. He said “almost a thousand” people had attended, including families and older workers. There are both short and long-term working opportunities in the area, he said.
I’m not over here to pinch your workers, I’m over here to borrow them. Frankly, if people come over and they like Western Australia – and there’s nothing not to like – they may make a conscious choice to stay, and they’ll be very welcome. But there’ll be another cohort of people who may just want to do it in the short term. The opportunities are endless.
Mr Collier, who will continue his recruitment efforts in the UK today, added that jobs might not be the only attraction of his region. “The sun shines in Western Australia,” he said. “It was 22 degrees there yesterday, and it’s the middle of winter.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
There is ALWAYS more than one reason for an accident, blaming the driver entirely is wrong in my opinion. For instance, a reckless individual would have been noted by somebody else in the company at least once in the past 13 yrs. We will have to wait for the final report to know ALL the factors that caused this tragedy.
He woke up on thursday mornin as a train driver.. He went to sleep with a charge of reckless manslaughter of 78 people hanging over him..
His life is ruined no matter how guilty or innocent he is.. Along with all the other families who lost loved ones…
I wouldn’t make my mind up about any incident like this until a full technical report about the track/train was published,this seems all a bit too quick,he’s still in hospital FFS
Agreed. Let the man recover a bit first before charging at him with axes and burning torches.
This man should be put down after this act of negligence! Bragging on his Facebook page about goin 200 kph you would think he was a teenager. Hope he never sleeps again thinking of what he did
Have you forgotten the possibility that it may not be his fault ? An unlikely possibility maybe but angry mob mentality will do nobody any good.
I think there is the possibility that the Facebook page was a fake.
Have to agree with you there Patrick. And @ the journal.ie… why did you report yesterday that he had been charged with reckless homicide and now he faces “possible charges of reckless homicide”!? Same guy, two different qoutes??
I presume the driver didn’t get up in the morning and say ” I’m going to kill a load of passengers today” ……….
I have to agree there with the comment @ Journal. Come on guys – you’ve got a great news portal already without resorting to sensationalism. Leave that to the experts at Sky.
Hi there,
I don’t think any article yesterday said the driver was charged? There was one which said he had been detained since Thursday “for the alleged crimes of reckless homicide” but there was no mention of charges.
Hi Jennifer,
My apologies… It wasn’t here on The Journal that I read that. Got them mixed up. Damn, I hate my obsession with the news :)
Sorry Jennifer.
Ah, that’s what you get for reading your news elsewhere ;) No worries, guys.
From what I’ve read in the Spanish media, the accident occurred pretty much at the point where the train moved from AVE (high speed) lines with very advanced signaling that controls the trains’ speed and won’t allow a driver to exceed speed limits to a conventional normal speed line where signaling systems wouldn’t control the train speed but only advise the driver of it.
I think we need to wait for the dust to settle and allow the technical investigation to run its course before we jump to any conclusions about the driver.
The investigation will be very through and that’s a very high tech train so it will have onboard camera and data recorders.
They’ll go through this much like an air crash investigation.
Innocent ’til proven guilty, eh ? Oh, sorry, wrong way around for some on here. As others have said;, ignore the media speculation and wait for the full report. Media speculates to sell their product, regardless of fallout to any individual, the driver in this case. Benefit of the doubt, people, benefit of the doubt.
Innocent ’til proven guilty, eh ? Oh, sorry, wrong way around for some on here. As others have said;, ignore the media speculation and wait for the full report. Media speculates to sell their product, regardless of fallout to any individual, the driver in this case. Benefit of the doubt, people, benefit of the doubt.
have your say