Garry Murphy is a 53-year-old roofer who has lived in Killarney for 16 years. He hopes to move to New Zealand with his wife and two children as one of up to 3,000 Irish workers who are being sought to help with earthquake reconstruction in Christchurch. Garry explained his reasons to TheJournal.ie.
THE MAIN REASON for going is the work situation over here. There’s just less and less work. We’re starting our fourth year of recession, and when’s it going to end? There’s no sight of it. I just can’t see there’s any hope. My wife’s got an MA and a BA, and she can’t get a job. I’m 53 years old now, and if I keep on waiting for the next five or six years for it to get better, I’m going to be 60. It’s now or never.
I’m a roofer. I’m still working, I run my own company doing zinc and copper cladding and roofing– but the company now is me and my son. Four years ago, I had about 15 or 16 people working for me. But the work has just gone down the plughole.
We’ll be taking my youngest son who I work with, and my youngest daughter who’s just left school. They’re looking forward to it. Although they’re young, they’re not silly. They can see. You’re getting it on the news every day; they’ve got friends whose fathers or mothers are out of work. Plus, they can always come back – people are moving around the world a lot more. When I left school in 1974, it was unheard of for people to go to Australia or New Zealand even on a working holiday.
I don’t know whether we’re going to go there permanently. We can’t sell our house because of the housing market, so what do you do? It’s a catch-22 situation. We’re willing to work, we’re not a dossy family. And we might not be Einsteins, but we’re not stupid. People want to work, and they want to earn decent money – they don’t want to just get a dead-end job that doesn’t get you anywhere.
‘They’re looking for seismic-friendly products’
I’ve actually got a job in New Zealand. I’ve just signed an employment contract last week, it’s just been posted back to the roofing company. We do zinc and copper – they’re just starting out in that in their firm, so I can help them progress that, because I have experience. They’re looking for seismic-friendly products. I’ve seen a photo of a roof with tiles, and the weight of the tiles shaking about has collapsed the roof. So now they’re looking for more lightweight roofing materials, which is what we do.
I’m not too worried about the wages. I’m not going out there to get top bucks. But I’m still willing to work – I’ve got a good head on me, and for my last ten or 12 years working before I retire, I think I can make a bit of a dent out in Christchurch, help people, and earn some money as well on top of that.
We’ve been living in Ireland for 16 years. I actually left England because of the last recession. And when I first came here, it was just starting to pick up. I thought ‘This country is ripe for modernisation.’ And it went up to a certain point, and it’s just gone back even further than what it was 16 years ago. I blame the politicians and bankers – but I actually think Europe has completely had it as well. Because the problems we’re having, they’re having too. If you managed a company the way these countries are being run, you’d get the sack.
I just don’t know what’s going to happen. If we go over to New Zealand, we might come back in three years, sell our house and move over there permanently. That’s if we are accepted and our visas go through. If we’re not accepted, we’ll just have to stay here and keep on with it. Do our best.
But we’ve filled the form in, called an Expression of Interest. That’s with New Zealand immigration now. And the fact that I’ve got a job offer helps, it gives me more points. I’m not relying on it. But it’s something I’m looking forward to; I’ve been chatting to the guys in the roofing firm in Christchurch, and I’ve sent some photographs of some of the work that I’ve done. So we’ll just have to wait and see.
Garry Murphy is applying for a New Zealand visa through Migration Associates.
Read more: Three thousand Irish sought for Christchurch earthquake rebuild>
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