Local firms stall expansion due to difficulty of finding workers

Local employers are struggling to fill vacant positions due to a shortage of workers.

With the number of people out of work at a 10-year low and many of those who left the country during the recession yet to return, the expansion plans of many businesses are being threatened due to the difficulties they are having recruiting staff.

The Mullingar branch of Home Instead, which provides home care and home help to seniors across the midlands, has recruited 170 new staff since the beginning of 2017.

Managing director Jonathan Acton says that within the next six months his firm wants to add a further 100 new people to its current workforce of 255.

With the country heading towards full employment, they are finding it hard to recruit staff in the numbers they need.

With a rapidly ageing population and new a contract for home help services with the HSE, Mr Acton says that his firm are having difficulty keeping up with market demands.

While the educational requirement for carers has increased significantly in recent years, Mr Acton says that his firm will help prospective employees with training.

The shortage of workers is also being felt in the construction sector, as tens of thousands of tradesmen left the country during the recession.

Cllr Bill Collentine, who runs his own plumbing company, says the lack of available tradesmen could affect the government’s house building targets in the coming years, targets that need to be met if the housing crisis is to be tackled successfully.

“It’s a big problem at the moment. There are very few tradesman and any that are here are already working,” he said.

The number of firms taking on apprentices during the depression fell significantly, which is also a major contributory factor to the shortage of tradesmen today.

“It’s all over; electricians, plumbers, carpenters. It’s very hard to get tradesmen. The work is coming back but the tradesmen aren’t there to go for it.

“It’s not going to sort itself out quick. More apprentices are needed and we need more incentives for employers to take them on. Something is needed, especially if we are going to get back to building houses, because there is a massive shortage.”

Midlands Career Expo

In a bid to address the shortage of workers locally, Mullingar Chamber of Commerce are holding a Midlands Career Expo on Saturday January 5 in the Advanced Manufacturing Centre.

“A number of company have come together, who are all experiencing a shortage of skilled people,” one of the main organisers of the event, John Hunt, told the Westmeath Examiner.

“We are finding that there are a lot of people commuting to Dublin or who live overseas who may not know the opportunities that exist with companies in the midlands. We just want to make them aware of the opportunities here in the midlands and its towns. The midlands is a great place to live and work and is home to a lot of good companies.”

In recent years there has been a significant increase in the number of firms in the technology, engineering and manufacturing sectors operating out of the midlands, including Mr Hunt’s own firm, TEG, which is based in Mullingar.

A lot of these firms, including his own, are finding it hard to find people to fill new positions.

By holding the expo in the first weekend in January, Mr Hunt says that the participating firms are hoping that it will attract some local ex-pats who came home for Christmas.

This week a recruitment firm in the midlands announced that it is offering free flights back home from Australia to any ex-pats they help secure jobs for in Westmeath or another part of the country.

The incentive from FRS Recruitment, which has an office in Tullamore, has been introduced to help encourage people who moved Down Under during the recession to re-evaluate the job opportunities available in Ireland, particularly those operating in the construction, IT and healthcare sectors. Colin Donnery of FRS Recruitment said they have a roles in every part of Ireland, including Westmeath.