The recent survey of vacancies by FÁS and Forfas shows that among the occupations most in demand by the Celtic Tiger are skilled maintenance and skilled production workers. At present there are no fewer than 8,100 vacancies for these grades in the Republic. This will come as no surprise to anyone who has tried to get a fitter or electrician or bricklayer to do a small job. In a recent survey, employers reported that the job of skilled tradesperson was the most difficult job to fill. Many tradespersons are being recruited from overseas. The kind of jobs included in this group include electricians, fitters, electronic workers, welders, bricklayers, carpenters and many others.
Like many other blunt Anglo-Saxon words used to describe people, \'old\' is no longer politically correct. The literature on old age restricts itself to gentler terms and expressions, - \'Elderly\', \'Ageing\', \'Senior Citizens\', \'Older Persons\', \'Active Retired\'. The term \'Old Folk\', with its cheerier and more affectionate connotation, still survives in the names of a few community associations for the elderly. The reluctance to use the world \'old\' may well be a resistance to being \'labelled\' and pigeon-holed. Or it may contain an element of denial in a secular world that increasingly sees the seventy-odd years of life as all that we have or will have.
Whatever people feel about early prisoner release in Northern Ireland, most people will agree that it is counter-productive to turn former paramilitary prisoners into an embittered and marginalised group through bureaucratic persecution. Yet there is every danger of this happening, as former paramilitaries are being treated in law the same as any other prisoners, though most people would agree that this is simply not appropriate. Indeed, it is questionable whether most of the sanctions listed below should be applied to any ex-prisoner, given that they are considered to have paid their debt to society.
Much of the focus on immigration has been as a result of the growing number of asylum seekers arriving in Ireland in recent years. However the recent trend of immigration in Ireland shows that apart from asylum seekers there are a considerable number of immigrants each year. (see Table 1). In fact even with the increase in asylum seekers there are 10 times more immigrants arriving in Ireland than those seeking asylum.
Like many other blunt Anglo-Saxon words used to describe people, \'old\' is no longer politically correct. The literature on old age restricts itself to gentler terms and expressions, - \'Elderly\', \'Ageing\', \'Senior Citizens\', \'Older Persons\', \'Active Retired\'. The term \'Old Folk\', with its cheerier and more affectionate connotation, still survives in the names of a few community associations for the elderly. The reluctance to use the world \'old\' may well be a resistance to being \'labelled\' and pigeon-holed. Or it may contain an element of denial in a secular world that increasingly sees the seventy-odd years of life as all that we have or will have.