Migrants making the move to Dublin

Non-nationals are flocking to work in Dublin's booming financial services industry.

The Central Statistics Office reports that Dublin has the highest proportion of non-Irish nationals in Ireland, at 13% or 150,000 people.

Financial services recruiters are also noticing the trend. "In many cases, 70-80% of the applicants for a role will be non-nationals. Many have an excellent work ethic, are well-presented and flexible when it comes to working hours," says Kate Casey, manager at Gilligan Black Recruitment.

Paul Cotter, managing director of recruiter Joslin Rowe, agrees: "We see a lot of Polish applicants for banking and financial services jobs. They're well-received and we have a good ratio of placing them with employers. We're also seeing people from the new EU entrant countries such as Latvia and they would have a wide range of skills."

Several Dublin recruiters say the Polish graduates and postgraduates they meet are intelligent, very well-educated and that there are perhaps more Polish postgrads than Irish ones.

"We see a lot of European applicants for customer services and back-office support roles for their language skills: French, German, Spanish and Italians for example," says Deirdre O'Meara, financial services recruiter at Careers Register.

"We also get Nigerian candidates with very good academic backgrounds; they've mainly been placed with funds companies," she adds.