Manhattan bar turns into make shift job center for jobless Irish

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Manhattan bar turns into make shift job centre for jobless Irish

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O'Casey's restaurant and bar in Manhattan has turned into a makeshift job center for young Irish people in New York.

O'Casey's has established itself as the jobless center for the Irish and is the headquarters of a new immigrant support group called Failte 32.

The group hopes to connect new arrivals with the existing network of Irish organizations and employers in the city.

 One of Failte 32's organizers, Maurice Landers said"The first thing new arrivals do when they come here is drop off their bags at the aunt's house, and come to the pub,"

"It's where we've traditionally got our information and part of our social fabric.

"So when we got that point out to the Irish community, they thought, why hasn't it been done before?"

About 30 job seekers turned up to the groups first event on Monday night which even attracted the local media.

The majority of the job seekers are young college students that are allowed to work in the US on a J1 visa. Finding work is not as easy as it was for past generations.

However Failte 32 believe that the work is out there and it's not about what you know but who you know.

Gavin O'Hanlon (20) from Co Kilkenny said it was "tough going" but things are looking up for him with Failte 32.

"We were out in Long Beach, and had that cleared up. We tried Manhattan yesterday.

"Going round door to door . . . but nothing going."

But by the end of the Failte 32 meeting he had lined up a possible job.

"The guy is a building manager, so we could end up with door work or something like that,"
 

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