An acute shortage of engineers in Ireland is directing Irish firms down under to recruit, in an effort to convince workers who emigrated during the recession to return.

Ethos Engineering, a mechanical and electrical consultancy, has taken out half-page ads in the Irish Echo, a newspaper for Irish people living in Australia, seeking at least 10 qualified and experienced engineers with design consultancy experience as part of a three-month recruitment drive.

The company, which employs 54 people, used several Irish agencies to recruit candidates in Ireland but were unable to find enough, according to James Gillic, a senior electrical engineer at Ethos Engineering: “There is a definite upturn in the construction industry at the moment. Design engineers tend to see the upturn about 12 months before actual construction begins on site, so we are experiencing a shortage of staff a year prior to building and engineering firms.

“We are seeing a huge increase in data centre projects for blue-chip companies and market leaders in the data sector. Developers are also returning to the market, especially for high-spec office fit-outs.”

Many of Ethos’s younger staff members emigrated to Australia during the downturn, Gillic said. These workers with at least five years’ experience are now in particularly high demand.

“We are trying to target people who are now in their late 20s and early 30s, who are maybe thinking of getting married or starting a family, and want to come home.”

Ethos has already recruited several candidates from Australia who have built up “excellent experience” in their time there.

There is also a demand for graduates to fill positions at entry-level, due to the low numbers of Irish students opting to study engineering in recent years.