“If you said that at home in Ireland – we only hire Irish people – there would be uproar”.
Irish people applying for jobs in Australia are being told “we only hire Australians,” according to Irish immigrants who feature in the documentary series, Making it Down Under, on RTÉ One.
Clip via RTÉ
In this week’s episode of the series, which details the experiences of Irish people who have emigrated to Australia for work, the darker side to working in Australia for Irish immigrants is explored.
One of those Irish immigrants, Jake Haynes from Dublin, tells viewers: “In Ireland I just finished in UCD, the year before I came and I thought when I came out here I would be able to use my degree but all the places I applied for were like ‘we only hire Australian people’.
“If you said that at home in Ireland – we only hire Irish people – there would be uproar.”
Later in the programme, Jake, who travelled to Australia on a working holiday visa, warns viewers: “They paint this picture of ‘it’s all cocktails and beaches’ but it’s really not. There really is an untold side to the story. Some people survive over here but some people don’t.”
Jake’s best friend, Philip Healy from Louth, also talks about the dark side of working in Oz.
Philip, who has been living in Australia for more than year and has good employment with a Sydney hairdressers, tells the Making it Down Under cameras that Irish backpackers can be exploited by unscrupulous employers.
“You can get used here,” Philip says.
“Some people can see ‘backpacker, get them’. It has happened to people that I know. Underpay them, work them way over the hours that they are supposed to be working, don’t get holiday pay…
“They will use you, they will work you into the ground but they know that the Irish are the best workers, so, they will try to get what they can out of you”.
Making it Down Under airs Wednesday, October 5 on RTÉ One at 8.30pm.
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