News editor Patrick Donohoe was joined by a panel of people who had a lot of knowledge to share about what it’s like to work in European Union institutions and its associated agencies. The talk was part of the recent Agri Careers Fair orgaised by the Irish Farmers Journal and open eir, where more than 7,000 visitors connected with emloyers recruiting for 1,128 jobs.

Breffni Carpenter is agriculture counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the European Union. His career proves the civil service is anything but boring. He has seen riots in Seattle, crises in Cancun and negotiated with the WTO.

Working in Europe is much easier now than it was in the earlier years of his career given, for example, there weren’t direct flights available to Geneva and he had five young children at the time. He also says the price of phone calls abroad was horrendous circa 1998.

Conor Mulvihill is head of the Irish Dairy Industries Association (IDIA), which is under the IBEC umbrella. Prior to recently taking this position, Conor was based in Brussels where he spent five years as European executive for ICOS. He previously served as parliamentary assistant to Michael Lowry.

Conor is from a beef farm in Limerick and studied history and politics in college. He had huge fears about moving to Brussels as a 29-year-old, but "it was just a real pleasure to see all the different opportunities, but to be so close to home. It's an amazing hub right in the centre of Europe". Conor jokes that “we are inoffensive. We've never invaded anyone and people are always open to the Irish.”

Ruth McCourt who is a communication development officer with European Movement Ireland adds that the Irish attitude and what we have – the craic and openness – translates to Europe and beyond. The organisation she works for, which is an independent, non-profit, membership-based organisation working to develop the connection between Ireland and Europe, wants to see more Irish people working in Europe. It raises awareness about the employment opportunities in Europe.

Ruth said there is a great success rate when Irish people do get out there, but Irish people are held back by issues – or “perceived issues” as she describes them.

She also noted that Irish people have an added advantage given their native language is the most commonly used working language of the EU and that native English language skills are really appreciated. She said it is not expected that employees are fluent in their second language.

Ruth added that working in Europe is not just about those with languages or those who studied politics. Europe needs experts in every single field, because they make decisions for every field.

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Full coverage: Agri Careers Fair