If your Irish or British you get the short end of the stick in my opinion. Not only do we have to compete amongst ourselves for jobs but our market is also flooded by every other nationality in Europe. Now compare that to Spanish, French, Dutch, German etc were their markets they only mostly compete against themselves which obviously increases your chances considerably without doubt. I really believe British and Irish airlines should have preference for their own nationals before offering jobs to others. Before someone starts barking on about the EU or whatever aviation is a special case in my opinion as there are so few jobs available in the grand scheme of things when compared to nearly most other professions were there is ample room for other nationalities to apply.