People emigrating for work and leaving families behind

mariano rivera · 10-01-2012 04:13PM #1

Listening to a few news programmes over Christmas about Irish people heading back to England, Australia, Europe etc. after coming home for their holiers.
Most have emigrated there due to the recession etc.
Some sad stories of people (mostly Men) leaving the wives and children so they could go work abroad
They were saying that no work in Ireland, HAVE to go abroad to get work
Surely better to stay at home unemployed with your family/ young kids than work abroad alone
Some were saying “have to pay the mortgage”.
WTF?
Again, surely better to live at home with your famly in rented accommodation than live abroad alone.
Some of these lads were abroad for years having left 2007, 2008 etc.
Am I missing something?

(FYI - Some might hate their families chuckle chuckle)

Corvo · 10-01-2012 04:52PM

It is very sad alright, but unfortunately, some just cant afford to stay here any longer, they just have to go.

I've been lucky enough that I have never been forced to move abroad, but who knows what the future holds, and I know I would be very nervous if I did have to board a plane and wave goodbye to the family for the forseeable future.

A lot of my friends have gone to Oz and don't look like coming back.

Rented Mule · 10-01-2012 05:14PM

I left my wife and (then) two children behind for 10 months before I could bring them over to the States. While I hated being away from them for that length of time, it was the best thing for us moving forward. We are now settled in a beautiful home and work is steady. The local school system is outstanding and the kids are being looked after better than at any time living in Ireland.

RedXIV · 10-01-2012 05:17PM

Rented Mule wrote: »

I left my wife and (then) two children behind for 10 months before I could bring them over to the States. While I hated being away from them for that length of time, it was the best thing for us moving forward. We are now settled in a beautiful home and work is steady. The local school system is outstanding and the kids are being looked after better than at any time living in Ireland.

jesus, fair play.... i don't know if I'd be able to do that. I'm lucky enough to have a job so I don't have to worry about it, but that would be a nightmare for me

IM0 · 10-01-2012 05:19PM

:facepalm:

snubbleste · 10-01-2012 05:21PM

Yes op, you are missing something.

Spread · 10-01-2012 05:48PM

mariano rivera wrote: »

Listening to a few news programmes over Christmas about Irish people heading back to England, Australia, Europe etc. after coming home for their holiers.
Most have emigrated there due to the recession etc.
Some sad stories of people (mostly Men) leaving the wives and children so they could go work abroad
They were saying that no work in Ireland, HAVE to go abroad to get work
Surely better to stay at home unemployed with your family/ young kids than work abroad alone
Some were saying “have to pay the mortgage”.
WTF?
Again, surely better to live at home with your famly in rented accommodation than live abroad alone.
Some of these lads were abroad for years having left 2007, 2008 etc.
Am I missing something?

(FYI - Some might hate their families chuckle chuckle)

Congratulations! You have just found a way for total world peace ......... make the armies stay at home - collecting the dole

You gotta be kidding ...... better staying at home unemployed? Losing your house ......... your self esteem ........ your joie de vivre etc. If all that people do is sit around and moan all day ........ then that is not a healthy environment for anyone. Plus, you're doing people that are working a favour by not being a burden on the exchequer. Seriously.

seamus · 10-01-2012 06:06PM

mariano rivera wrote: »

Some were saying “have to pay the mortgage”.
WTF?
Again, surely better to live at home with your famly in rented accommodation than live abroad alone.

It's not that simple. If you can't afford your mortgage, it's not as simple as chucking it in and moving to rented accommodation. The bank will hound you for years.

There's also a quality of life issue. If you stay on the dole, you have to move your entire family into council housing, with the distinct possibility of having undesirable if not dangerous neighbours, your kids have to go to poorer schools, you're constantly stressing about bills and being able to buy the kids presents, get the car fixed, save up for a short holiday or a mate's wedding.

Or...your family can stay where they are with the neighbours they already know, go to the schools that their friends go to, have money available to pay their bills and treat themselves every now and again, and basically have the quality of life that you would want for them. But you have to work abroad.

Choosing to stay at home just so you can be with your family would be distinctly selfish option IMO. That said, I would never view it as a long-term option, just one to weather the storm until work can be found at home again.

SEPT 23 1989 · 10-01-2012 06:09PM

A double life would be fun alright

mariano rivera · 10-01-2012 06:36PM

Rented Mule wrote: »

I left my wife and (then) two children behind for 10 months before I could bring them over to the States. While I hated being away from them for that length of time, it was the best thing for us moving forward. We are now settled in a beautiful home and work is steady. The local school system is outstanding and the kids are being looked after better than at any time living in Ireland.

I am happy that it worked out for you RM. And I understand completely that you left the family behind so you could go ahead, get accommodation, look at schools for them to follow. I understand this 100%. Well done

What i don't understand is people who are living away form their families for YEARS

Especially if it is paying for a mortgage.

Option #1: Stay in Ireland with Wife/ Kids and no money

Option #2: Stay away with no wife/ kids and HAVE money

Option #1 EVERYTIME

HANDS DOWN !

RachaelVO · 10-01-2012 06:45PM

It's not just about money, although other reasons are money related.

Due to the fact that there is not money in the government coffers, the state of the country is only going to get worse. Schools, hospitals, services...

With no jobs, no money for extras how could anyone NOT want to leave, provide for their families... lots of our grandfathers did the EXACT same thing in the 50s and 60s and went to the UK to work. It's part of the responsibility we face when we have a family, we have to do whatever it takes to make sure that they have exactly what they need!

Spread · 10-01-2012 06:48PM

RachaelVO wrote: »

It's not just about money, although other reasons are money related.

Due to the fact that there is not money in the government coffers, the state of the country is only going to get worse. Schools, hospitals, services...

With no jobs, no money for extras how could anyone NOT want to leave, provide for their families... lots of our grandfathers did the EXACT same thing in the 50s and 60s and went to the UK to work. It's part of the responsibility we face when we have a family, we have to do whatever it takes to make sure that they have exactly what they need!

Well said, Rachael auld girl!

Lando Griffin · 10-01-2012 07:13PM

I heard a requests on the Tony Fenton show for people heading back to oz after christmas and Tony kept saying " oh the lucky sods". But back on topic some people lived very expensive lifestyles during the boom and if there is a little pay off between daddy working away and affording to be able to bring the kids to school in a SUV then so be it, both parents can have the lifestyle they had a few years back allbeit away from each other.

mariano rivera · 10-01-2012 08:15PM

RachaelVO wrote: »

It's not just about money, although other reasons are money related.

Due to the fact that there is not money in the government coffers, the state of the country is only going to get worse. Schools, hospitals, services...

With no jobs, no money for extras how could anyone NOT want to leave, provide for their families... lots of our grandfathers did the EXACT same thing in the 50s and 60s and went to the UK to work. It's part of the responsibility we face when we have a family, we have to do whatever it takes to make sure that they have exactly what they need!

Do they not need a father at home before anything else?

What are extras?

Justin Bieber Tickets, Abercrombie Tops, Sony Playstations?

RachaelVO · 10-01-2012 08:25PM

mariano rivera wrote: »

Do they not need a father at home before anything else?

What are extras?

Justin Bieber Tickets, Abercrombie Tops, Sony Playstations?

Of course they need a father at home, but there are plenty of single parent families out there who manage perfectly well. To imply anything else would be offensive to those single mothers.

Having said that, a father who will do what ever it take to ensure that his family have a roof over their heads and food on the table is a role model that his children can be proud of. BOTH my grandfathers worked in the UK decades ago, and their families needed it, and chances are it saved my mother, as she was a pretty sick child, and the money my Grandfather sent back kept them in clothes and kept a fire going in the winter! Are things that bad now, not quiet, but for some families it's not too far off it!

Extras, you think a playstation is an extra? Ehhh, no, school trips, birthdays, saving for Christmas, the odd day out as a treat. Is that too much to ask for?

Shryke · 10-01-2012 08:32PM

RachaelVO wrote: »

Of course they need a father at home, but there are plenty of single parent families out there who manage perfectly well. To imply anything else would be offensive to those single mothers.

I don't think it would. And what you're saying seems pretty offensive to any father.

R P McMurphy · 10-01-2012 08:39PM

Plenty of fellas around to fill in the void

merengueca · 10-01-2012 10:32PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fDNhqzqHkA

44leto · 10-01-2012 10:38PM

Its not as hard as it use to be, when I was in the US a call home cost an arm and a leg, now with the internet it's free and you can see each other as well.

Bookworm85 · 10-01-2012 10:54PM

My dad spends approx 10 months of the year out of the country working, and has done for the last 4 years. He's in his late 50's and there is bugger all work for him hear in Ireland.

Although my siblings and I are all grown up ( youngest in college) it is incredibly hard not having him around. We talk a few times a week on skype but its just not the same. Its incredibly hard for my mother and she can get quite down while he is away, to be honest we all miss him terribly.

My parent's sold our old house in 2004 and downsized, they got a fair deal on a house but had to borrow/mortgage to do up the new house and make it habitable. At my age my parents should be planning their retirement and I think its a travesty that my father has to travel 7000 K to find work just to pay for the roof over their heads.

He is home at the moment but will be flying out again this weekend. We wont see him again till March. I'm dreading the trip to the airport to wave him off.

My brother left for Australia 3 years ago, and while I miss him terribly he is doing well for himself out there and I am very proud of him. He has no plans to come home anytime in the foreseeable future. Again, we talk a few times a week online, but its not the same as having them here. I'm hoping to get out to see him this year, but money is tight.

Mully_2011 · 10-01-2012 11:14PM

I hope to emigrate next year when I'm finished college no other choice really why should spend 4 years of my life working my balls off to do a wpp scheme for 200 euro a week or just sit at home living my mammy till Im 35.

Mike 1972 · 10-01-2012 11:16PM

Lando Griffin wrote: »

I heard a requests on the Tony Fenton show for people heading back to oz after christmas and Tony kept saying " oh the lucky sods".

In a way the guy is right.

Seeing as how his show isint broadcast in Australia

cattlejobber · 11-01-2012 12:46AM

i work in a mine in western Australia. my wife is at home in ireland. had my own construction company and employed 23 people at its height. got sued and a couple of people did not pay left me 60,000 in the red. so choices were limited declare my self bankrupt or dig deep for a year or 2 and try and paw my way out of it. getting 100/120 euro a day at home was not going to go a long way to live and pay off dept. there was no point in my wife comming with me and sitting in perth on her own for weeks on end. there is more to peoples choices than you think its A GUN TO SOME PEOPLES HEADS

Celly Smunt · 11-01-2012 01:09AM

I'm sick of people "emigrating" on one year work visas.

k.p.h · 11-01-2012 01:28AM

People need to ****ing stop rationalising emigration, it's not normal and it's not the way things go. There is an inherent problem causing it, current economic ideas are flawed when people around the world have to leave their homes and family's just to survive.

The argument that our ancestors had to do it fails at the first hurdle. How long ago was that ..? What have we learned ..? The system is still the same and the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It's just insane that the people who have to deal with this pain don't buck up and oppose it in some way. Insane ...

Celly Smunt · 11-01-2012 01:34AM

k.p.h wrote: »

People need to ****ing stop rationalising emigration, it's not normal and it's not the way things go. There is an inherent problem causing it, current economic ideas are flawed when people around the world have to leave their homes and family's just to survive.

The argument that our ancestors had to do it fails at the first hurdle. How long ago was that ..? What have we learned ..? The system is still the same and the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It's just insane that the people who have to deal with this pain don't buck up and oppose it in some way. Insane ...

People don't just emigrate because they need to,it's just a far better way of life elsewhere.People need to stop looking at emigration as some sort of prison sentence.

mandrake04 · 11-01-2012 01:55AM

pmcmahon wrote: »

I'm sick of people "emigrating" on one year work visas.

You have to blame RTE for that they coined it and now everyone believes it, we call them geese as in they migrate south for a year.

cgan086 · 11-01-2012 05:25AM

Moved to australia about 7 months ago. A lot more work here, but on the other hand i am prepairing for a cyclone rite now so it's not all good:cool:

Spread · 11-01-2012 04:25PM

k.p.h wrote: »

People need to ****ing stop rationalising emigration, it's not normal and it's not the way things go. There is an inherent problem causing it, current economic ideas are flawed when people around the world have to leave their homes and family's just to survive.

The argument that our ancestors had to do it fails at the first hurdle. How long ago was that ..? What have we learned ..? The system is still the same and the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It's just insane that the people who have to deal with this pain don't buck up and oppose it in some way. Insane ...

If born in Donegal, married your partner from Cork and moved there......
If born in Dublin, married your partner from Glasgow and moved there .....
If born in Derry, married your partner from Faro and moved there .....
If born in Kerry, married your partner from Frankfurt and moved there ....
If born in Mayo, married your partner from Milan and moved there ..
would you call that emigrating?

There is an inherent problem causing it, current economic ideas are flawed when people around the world have to leave their homes and family's just to survive.

If this was the case ........Ireland would be uninhabited. As would much of the world apart from a few lake shores in Africa.

I know some countryfolk who would not migrate to another county ........... I suspect you are one of those.

Shrickman · 21-06-2012 02:25PM

Hear Hear!!!

Mysteriouschic · 21-06-2012 02:32PM

My uncle works in England and flies home every Friday to stay for the weekend with the family as he couldn't get a job here and found a great one over there.

People emigrating for work and leaving families behind

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