Families split as fathers migrate to work

Many emigrating Irish families are often split up for months at a time as one parent heads to the destination country to organise the move.

Visa First, a company that facilitates moves to countries such as Australia and Canada, said an analysis of their customer database revealed that more Irishmen are leaving ahead of their partners and children in search of work than ever before.

Analysing the figures for Australia, the company said that, since the start of last year, there has been a 58% increase in the number of “primary” applicants leaving ahead of dependants in seek of work. Of those applicants, 75% are male.