Thousands turn up for Work Abroad Expo in Cork yesterday

There’s a lot of people who seem to be absolutely desperate to get out of Ireland and head off around the globe in search of some greener pastures.

On Monday we reported that 1,000 people had to be turned away from the Working Abroad Exhibition that took place at Dublin’s RDS last weekend. The organisers of the event were completely overwhelmed by the amount of people who showed up to learn more about working overseas and leaving Ireland.

Well, the same exhibition opened its doors in Cork yesterday and honestly? The results were exactly the same. In fact some people even queued all night just to make sure they got in to the event. That’s some serious emigration dedication right there.

The Irish Daily Star reports that more than 3,000 people turned up to the Silver Springs Hotel in Cork city yesterday where the Working Abroad Expo was being held. Eyewitnesses reported that the majority of people began queuing from around 5.30am, whereas there were reports that some people had pretty much stood in line all night.

Up to 45 companies from Canada and Australia were using the event to recruit Irish workers for a host of sectors including healthcare, construction and mining. Apparently Canada and Australia are very keen to nab some skilled Irish tradespeople such as fitters, welders, mechanics and electricians, as their own workforces desperately need people who have been trained in these areas.

1,000 tickets were sold in advance of the cork exhibition, and the demand for tickets was so high that the SGMC Group, who were organising the event, actually had to stop selling tickets online on Monday night.

The doors opened at 11am and by lunchtime, security guards were advising people outside, saying that they were unlikely to get in as the event was at full capacity.

If anything the mass amounts of people desperate to find out about emigration and working abroad shows just how desperate the situation is in Ireland right now. These lengthy queues come in a week that has seen more jobs disappear from Ireland – just this morning it was confirmed that AIB is set to axe 2,500 of their employees.

Speaking to the Irish Daily Mirror a builder, who slept in his car so he could be one of the first people into the Working Abroad Expo said: “I am working since I was 16 and I would do anything for a bit of work. If it’s not there it is not there.”