Once upon a time, way back at the turn of the century, Celtic Cubs would head off to Australia on extended holidays in search of many things. Some would be looking for a fair-dinkum trip of a lifetime, other dags were looking to 'find themselves' on the other side of the world. Some were looking for blokes or Sheilas, others were looking for the Sydney Opera House. But almost all of them would return to yarn – and yarn – about their adventures.

These days, most visitors to the land down under are looking for just one thing: employment.

Visa First's marketing manager Edwina Shanahan, who organises emigration information meetings for wannabe travellers, has noticed a distinct trend in recent months: "Definitely I'd say from the last half of last year the numbers have gone up.

"We used to have meetings at the Red Cow every quarter, but it has to be the first Tuesday of every month now, and we always have 100 to 200 people at the talk."

Young professionals, tradesmen, and whole families are now taking the
plunge, and it seems that Australia in particular is now the destination of choice...

Samantha Meilia

Samantha Melia and her husband Liam returned from the US nine months ago. Samantha has a degree in psychology, and has only just recently had to leave her job working for a hotel consultancy firm

We're going out to Perth and we're on a sponsor visa, after which we can apply for residency which we will be doing because we're not coming back. The truth of the matter is that I just feel that at no other time in my life has Ireland been so hopeless and so desperate a place to be.

My husband is a carpenter and he could not find any work at all. He's been unemployed since March. All his friends are in construction and the last thing we expected was that he wouldn't find work because he knew so many people, and he'd been in the business for so long.

The primary reason [for leaving] is that you need to be able to go to a supermarket and buy food, and you need to be able to heat your home, and you need to be able to pay your bills, without even getting into luxuries – and there's just nothing. And I just feel that it's been so misrepresented, I know people are saying, "Oh, don't talk yourself into it", and it just becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, but there is just nothing there.

Is it a wonder that people are thinking, "maybe I'll go to the other side of the world to raise my family?" Because they have been let down by the very people that they pay through their taxes to represent them. I feel that Cowen and co are drunk at the wheel. Rome is burning and they're on the hill eating grapes.

Brian Lenihan said recently, "Don't ask dangerous questions", and I was like, "What the hell does this guy think this is? Communist Russia? Don't ask dangerous questions?" Was that not how all good social change was brought about, by asking dangerous questions?

In a few days' time I'm leaving and I won't be back, and I'll just be some Irish person that grew up here and doesn't exist anymore. When you have no choice, you have no choice. We can't afford to rent anywhere, we can't afford to buy anywhere. It's a no-brainer. It's just two words: "no money". It's about survival. I love Ireland, I really do, but I have the misfortune of being in a country that can't provide a life for me other than the dole queue. So I bought a one-way ticket.

Gary Edwards

Twenty-six-year-old Wexford man Gary Edwards is a qualified plumber. He's been out of work for five months now, and he wants to move to Australia with his girlfriend and two-year-old daughter

We made the decision well over a year ago. I think we just had enough of it over here. The way it's gone now it's really bad. A couple of my brothers aren't even working either. They're doing days here and days there with the companies that they're with. I want to start a life for myself. I'm not like a young lad going over there to party.

When I was 21 I lived in America for a year and I had to come home for something and I never got a chance to go back, so it was always something I wanted to do. Travelling doesn't bother me in the least. Some people are travellers and some people ain't. My brother was in Australia for a year, we went out to see him two years ago, he couldn't wait to go home. He's totally different. He's glad he's done it, but he's glad to come home too, but I'm happier when I'm travelling.

My girlfriend is a bit of a homebird too, she's a little bit worried about missing her mother and father, but I've talked so much since we've went out with each other that she wants to do it too now, and she sees the advantages of travelling and seeing the world. If the lifestyle in Australia is better for me, my girlfriend and my child I don't see the point in moving anywhere else.

I'd like to go to Brisbane. My cousin lives there and he says it's the place to be. There's loads of work, it's sunny all year round, so it sounds good. But then I heard that down around Melbourne they're after opening up mines and they're trying to build houses for the people working there but they don't have enough workers. So there's a little bit of a boom there.

Although I also heard it's after quietening down a little bit. So I'm thinking it would be good to get out there as soon as possible and try and find work with a company. I'm trying to sell my house as well, but with the market the way it is, it doesn't look like happening. In the last five months I've had one person come to look at the house and that was last week.

We bought a house before during
the boom and we made ¤80,000 off it, so we put money into this house. We put
the best of everything into it. It's state-of-the-art but no one's even coming to look at it.

Edward Ruddy

Twenty-six-year-old Ballina man Edward Ruddy is an electrician. He's been to Australia before, but this time he knows things will be different. He's hoping to head to Queensland

I'd been to Australia in 2004 and loved it there, and I'd been meaning to go back there, but things got ahead of me. Now it's hard to find work so I just said I'd go. I saw work slowing down a long time ago, about 2006. Things were a lot quieter here when I came back from Australia than before I went.

I'll give it a few years anyway. I know it's going to be different from when I went on the working holiday visa. On that you had a lot of fun and you knew you were coming home. This time I'll be putting the head down, it'll be more serious.

I loved it out there. I do a bit of surfing. That's another attraction for me. No need for the 5mm wetsuit and gloves and hoods. Their attitude to everything in Australia is great. They work to live. Over here it seems to be that you work and you have nothing anyway. When I was out there before, I didn't just work as an electrician, I did furniture removal and stuff like that and I had a good time. I'm prepared to do whatever it takes.

I don't have a house to sell in Ireland, thank God. There are houses around here empty, there might be ten houses sold in a new housing estate. I don't know what they're going to do with the rest of them. Then there's the people who've bought a couple of houses trying to get on the property ladder. I'd say they're badly caught. I'm single as well so buying a house never crossed my mind.

Declan Leyden

Declan Leyden is a 25-year-old mechanic living in Finglas. His job is relatively secure, but Declan has always harboured a desire to travel

I think what I'm going to do is do a sensible thing first. When the visa comes through and is granted, I'm not just going to pack my bags, up sticks, and give up my job and go. I'm going to take a month's holidays off work, because what I've heard about Australia is that some people are finding jobs, and some people are finding it hard. I'll travel around, suss out the work, suss out what wages are like, and check the price of accommodation. I'll just suss everything out, then come back to Ireland, save up a bit of money again, and then weigh up my options. I'm thinking of going to Western Australia to the likes of Perth for the mining industry, so I'd like to get some work there.

I reckon if I don't do it now, maybe in a year's time I'll have a girlfriend or I'll have a kid, or I could have a mortgage, and if I don't do it now, I'll never do it. To be honest I don't know about settling there. I can't see that far into the future, but at the end of the day if I don't like it I'll just come home.

I'm from Liscannor in county Clare, but I've been living in Dublin now for five years, and city life is not my cup of tea. I have no interest in living in a big city. It wouldn't be for me. Everyone will head to the likes of Sydney, so there are more people looking for work. Then there's the price of accommodation, the price of food, the cost of living, whereas I think I'd have a better chance of getting something somewhere like Western Australia where the cost of living would be cheaper, and there might be more opportunities for jobs.

Things have quietened down here. Even there lately I've noticed the traffic has died down a lot with all these people out of work. In comparison with this time last year, it's a lot easier to get to work in the morning. You notice there's not as many cars on the road.

Gillian and Patrick McCarthy

Killybegs fisherman Patrick McClafferty and his wife Gillian are currently based in Parteen in Limerick. They're moving to Australia this year with their three children, and Patrick is hoping to pick up work as a welder/fabricator

Patrick: I'm away a lot for my job. We fish off South America and beside Easter Island and that. We're there for eight months of the year and for the rest of the year we're in Europe. I'm possibly a bad person for the reason that there's not many fishermen going there (laughs).

Gillian: For me the reason for moving was spending six months of the year on my own with no husband and three kids. I realised at the end of the day that family is more important than finances, and we're trying to get a happy medium so that Patrick will be at home for me and the kids, and also balance that out financially as well.

It's just a better lifestyle in Australia as well, the weather is nicer over there, Patrick can come home at five or six in the evening, there's a real sense of an outdoor lifestyle over there, you can go to the park, you can go walking, you don't have to pay all the time for entertainment for the kids, and it doesn't have to be indoor entertainment all the time. We've struggled on Sundays in Killybegs when it rained trying to do something with the kids for a family day.

We're getting our visa processed through a company in Kildare, and because of his skills and welding experience Patrick has a priority listing, so hopefully we can get going soon.

Continental shift Why people are emigrating to Australia...

? Unemployment in Australia is currently at 3.5%. This is the lowest it has been since 1978.

? Australia is now proving particularly attractive to skilled workers and tradesman who are in short supply in the country.

? The cost of living is lower than in Ireland, housing is relatively cheap and there is also the obvious attraction of the Australian climate.

? At the current exchange rate you can get €1 for Aus$1.

? Australia seems to have been largely unaffected by the downturn in the global economy. Irish developers are also starting to invest in Australia.

The Skilled Migration Visa

This is proving to be the most popular visa at the moment, with more people seeking long-term stays in Australia. Applicants for this visa must meet a minimum points mark, and their suitability is gauged according to age, English language ability, occupation and experience.