| Irish actor Jim nets coveted award
IRISH actor Jim Norton has won the Best Supporting Role award
at the prestigious Laurence Olivier Theatre Awards for his role in The
Seafarer, a play written and directed by Conor McPherson.
A respected theatre actor Norton has also appeared in Harry Potter And
The Chamber Of Secrets, Driving Lessons and A Love Divided.He had a recurring
role in Father Ted as Bishop Len Brennan.
The Seafarer is set on a dark and stormy Dublin Christmas Eve when a group
of old drinking buddies have gathered to play poker and join in the chorus
of an old familiar song.
It was also nominated for Best New Play, an award that went to David
Harrower’s controversial Blackbird, in which a woman confronts the
man who abused her as a schoolgirl.
irish in australia
SKILLED Irish workers have taken advantage of Australia’s increased
migrant intake.
More than 2,000 Irish workers were granted long-stay 457 visas last year
according to Department of Immigration figures.
A total of 71,150 immigrants were approved for long-stay work visas.
The Irish arrivals represent three per cent of the total number and one
fifth are expected to become permanent residents.
“There are 2,190 Irish people in the country on the 457 visas and
while we don’t have exact figures, about 20 per cent will get permanent
residency,” a department spokesman said.
Computer professionals, GPs, nurses and abattoir workers are the professions
most in demand.
The figures show that a further 1,061 Irish people have become permanent
residents in Australia since 2005.
boat sales rise
FORGET about a Porsche or a Mercedes, more and more Irish people are splashing
their cash on boats.
Almost £15million worth of pleasure crafts were sold at the Irish
International Boat Show recently, a 25 per cent rise on sales when the
same show was held two years ago.
Steve Conlon of the Irish Marine Federation said there has been huge growth
in the area in the past number of years, with young and old discovering
the pleasures of boating.
He said: “There’s been a shift in spending in recent years
with 75 per cent of sales now on powercraft rather than sailing boats.
“We have a lot of younger people buying them but they tend to fall
off when they have families. Then in their mid-40s onwards they find they
have more time for boating.”
The European average for boat ownership is one-in-42 but that drops to
one-in-160 in Ireland.
Those who buy usually keep them in rivers or harbours around Ireland but
a growing number are purchasing them to keep at a foreign holiday home.
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