top 'o the morning to ya, from canada

[skully]

Hello, My names Shawn and I currently live in Nova Scotia Canada,I have been thinking of getting a work-visa and staying in Ireland for a year or so.

so I thought I'd check out the MTB scene over there. and also ask if there is plenty of work for a guy who wants it?

thanks

-shawn

[Fergal]

err...what kind of work would that be?

are you a pirate?

[skully]

nope not a pirate, I'm a long-haul truck driver over here (all over Canada and the US) but I don't know if my license will be any good in Ireland.

I could do manual labour or even weld if my welding tickets are good for there too.

what's the employment rate like in Ireland? I'm a fast learner and can do just about anything i put my mind to.

[Barrydanzig]

lucky for you skully, dublin has excellent opportunities for those interested in plundering and like. but i have found that docking facilities around the city centre leave alot to be desired, its almost as if they didn't want 16th century galleons in the city.

[skully]

where theres a will theres a way!lol

[TomH]

Hey Skully,

Ireland has a high employment rate but that may be about to change as we are experiencing an economic slowdown, currently however there is still plenty of work available. I guess you should contact the relevant departments about the validity of driving licences etc. However we do have loads of great singletrack, good luck and hopefully we shall see you soon!

[jonnieh]

some insurance companies don't recognise canadian driving licences and this is the wrong time to be in construction,but as tom says the biking's pretty good!

[Conor]

The biking is pretty great all right. Also, dont believe all you read; I'm a truck driver here for a company that serves the the construction industry, and we are very busy, and will be into the future. A couple of things about driving here tho. If your under 25yrs, haulage companys wont hire you cos they cant insure you no matter what license you have. Also, long distance over here does'nt mean the same as it does in Canada, this is a small country! Best of luck and keep in touch.

[skully]

conor, I have about 500,000mi under my belt in under 4 years and your telling me that wont mean crap because i'm 22? @#$^ so there go the job i'd be best at.

I would be good with just about anything that won't place me behind a desk all day long.

why is Ireland "experiencing an economic slowdown"

[NigelS]

"If your under 25yrs, haulage companys wont hire you cos they cant insure you no matter what license you have."


i believe the insurance companies are telling you that :(


"why is ireland experiencing an economic slowdown?"


i should be able to explain this :P

[Conor]

'Fraid so Skully. Its a pain but there ya go. You might be lucky, with your experience you should pick up something, but it might be a bit crappy. Keep an eye on job sites etc, register with some recruitment sites. If your a qualified welder though, you will get work pretty much anywhere, good pay too.


Bit of advice. We only have mountains near the coasts, none in the midlands, so dont look for work there!

[skully]

"Bit of advice. We only have mountains near the coasts, none in the midlands, so dont look for work there!"


well my grandfather was Irish and came to Canada when he was quite young, he passed away when my dad was 16 (long before I was born) and my dad didn't know much about him, so i'm working on finding out where he was from and then go there.


do the city's have Bike parks set up like bowl's ramps jumps etc?

[miguel]

In the past couple of years there has been a push on to build skate/bmx parks in towns around the country.


Some are concrete bowls some modular concrete and some are timber. But they seem to be popping up all over the place due to a good funding structure.

[miguel]

http://www.goreyskateclub.com/skateparks.html

[Barrydanzig]

skateparks are popping up all over the place, but unfortunately mountainbiking isn't really recognised, its seems they spend more time banning us from places than they do providing places for us to ride.

[skully]

"Its seems they spend more time banning us from places than they do providing places for us to ride."

it's the same thing here, the city got sick of skaters using the mall and other places like that so they built them a skatepark.

we wern't allowed to ride it at first but we fought tooth n' nail and gained access to the park.

[miguel]

http://www.mbi.ie/Urban_MTB.html


St. Annes should be gnarly when its done... to the max!

[skully]

that sounds great, here in Halifax ECMTB(East Coast Mountain Bike) & I are trying to get the funding to build a north shore "training park" lots of ladders skinnys

and other technical stuff like that.

should be fun if we get to build it.

stuff like this...


http://www.chocolatefoot.co.uk/gallery/04/04/esher/plankview.jpg

http://www.chocolatefoot.co.uk/gallery/04/04/esher/tim_skinny.jpg

http://www.chocolatefoot.co.uk/gallery/04/04/esher/tim_tabletop.jpg

http://www.chocolatefoot.co.uk/gallery/04/04/esher/whitish_skinny.jpg

[TomH]

The economic slowdown is due to number of reasons

1. The construction industry which fuelled our recent boom (The Celtic Tiger) is no longer sustainable at the level at which it was operating.

2. The price of our houses finally reached an unsustainable level and now they are starting to recede to a less inflated level thus leaving some homeowners with negative equity which reduces buyer confidence so people/investors stop buying, so less houses are required.

3. We are largely dependent on the US as we have a large number of multi-nationals based here, the recent slowdown in the US has dented consumer confidence here, less confidence means less spending.


I see Conor above is busy at work which is great, however I used to work in construction and a large amount of my former colleagues are out of work. Don't get me wrong Ireland still has a construction industry, but it was hugely inflated and is returning to a more sustainable level. For example one company I worked for had 600 employees it now has 8, I would make a few enquiries first.


All that aside, I would highly recommend you visit Ireland, it's a really cool spot. And Dublin is only minutes from top class bike trails!

Tom

Tom

[skully]

thanks for the information tom, I do intend to go to Ireland maybe in the fall and skip our winter.

I'll do a little research and find out what jobs would be available to me with the training i have.