Opportunities 2006, billed by Fás as Europe's biggest career, education and skills exhibition, attracted more than 50,000 visitors to the Croke Park Conference Centre over three days, with 40,000 expected to arrive today.

Thousands of secondary school students are set to travel to Dublin by coach from all over the country to attend the annual event in its final day, in the hope of finding the right career path. Students from half of Ireland's post-primary schools registered for the exhibition, with most scheduled to visit today.

The event had drawn 50,000 people by lunchtime yesterday, according to Caitríona White, a spokeswoman for Fás. The national education and training authority is hosting the exhibition for a 12th year.

"Over the weekend, most of the visitors were jobseekers or those looking for a career change," Ms White said.

"There were also a lot of foreign nationals. In the Mobility Village, not a word of English was to be heard with foreign workers exchanging notes on working and living in Ireland."

The Republic's strong economy has left some businesses with a shortage of labour, making events like Opportunities 2006 important for recruiters hoping to reach migrant workers.

Almost half of the 87,000 jobs created here last year were taken up by foreign workers.

Forty companies have stands at the exhibition, including AXA, Lidl, Bank of Ireland, eBay, Intel and Dunnes Stores. Human resources staff were on hand to accept CVs from jobseekers and talk to potential employees.

AXA had received 150 CVs by the time the jobs fair closed on Saturday. Genzyme, a Waterford-based producer of tablets for kidney dialysis patients, was looking to recruit 100 people at the careers showcase to fill vacancies for chemists, microbiologists, IT managers and manufacturing operatives. Jobseekers also spoke to regional companies about opportunities outside Dublin. FÁS Opportunities 2006 closes at 4pm today.