New Zealand: Earthquake Commission Wants Irish Workers

[Andrew49]

The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has approached Irish workers for help because of a shortage of hands for the quake repair process, EQC chief executive Ian Simpson said today. At an earthquake recovery media briefing in Canterbury's Cashel Mall, Mr Simpson said they were looking at a repair process of about 100,000 houses, and would need about 8000 labourers.


''We know there is a lot of labour still available in Canterbury that we need to be tapping into more quickly. 'So we are starting with Canterbury, then South Island, then the rest of New Zealand, and then we will start to go overseas. 'We have made initial approaches in places like Ireland, where we know there are similar workers - English speaking, large unemployment rate of skilled workers, so we can bring those in when we need them.''

Source (http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/5438755/EQC-looks-to-Ireland-for-help)

Officials in New Zealand are planning to recruit Irish construction workers to help repair thousands of buildings damaged in three major earthquakes in the country's second biggest city over the past year. RTE LINK (http://www.rte.ie/news/2011/0813/newzealand.html)

[Yojimbo]

New Zealand was actively trying to encourage Irish workers to move there even during the boom.

Of course, they do this because of the well known high standards of the Irish construction industry, it has absolutely nothing to do with trying to keep New Zealand ethnically white European....

[TotalMayhem]

it has absolutely nothing to do with trying to keep New Zealand ethnically white European....

Why don't they recruit Chinese workers then? They're closer, work for less and when you look at modern Chinese urban construction, they most certainly are up to standard.

[Andrew49]

Why don't they recruit Chinese workers then? They're closer, work for less and when you look at modern Chinese urban construction, they most certainly are up to standard.

Vietnamese are in the same boat as the Chinese - New Zealand is ignoring them.

[TotalMayhem]

Vietnamese are in the same boat as the Chinese.

I hope the Vietnamese are not in these boats again.