Hey,
welcome to our forum.
"I was told that should I be successful, there would be opportunities, even for someone of my age with someone like Aer Arann or one of the cargo airlines."
How told you this?
The problem will not be getting through with training. Obviously by looking at todays situation we see that we have to many fresh graduates.
So training is the easy part, as long as you have money.
The hard part is to actually score a job. Look around in the forum and you will see a lot of people having a hard time.
Of course there are some exceptions, but they are note so many in my opinion.
Because of todays market, as I stated, some airlines are taking advantage of the situation by requiring cadets paying for own type rating. That is today pretty much standard for most carriers.
Sadly, like having the burden of an extra expense of 20000EUR wasn't enough it's becoming more and more popular for carriers to require a minimum of 500hrs on type before you can join. In that case some carriers, charge you for this "training" as well, putting that 20000EUR extra expense to around 50000EUR. Don't forget that you already have put around 40-60000EUR for your initial training, if you are even lucky to get away with that.
Now, since it seems like today, most of the cadet "pilots" have unlimited supply of fresh money, 500hrs on type will put you right back on the street to make way for a new fresh graduate ready to pay that airline. Let face it, why should they hire you after those 500hrs, when there is a long line of people behind?
Im sorry if my response seem grim, I just wanted to give you my view of the story, from the inside.
Some FTOs like to twist and turn the story for their own profit, and who can blame them? They have set up an business to make money. And this is how they "lure" people in.
Not lure maybe, because I hope that most of the pilots are smart enough and can get a picture of their own before making a decision to join this so called profession.
If you are still interested in joining after you get you OWN picture, then go ahead.
Im not trying to discourage you in any way. I just hope that you can stick around on this forum and get a glimpse. Try talking to pilots you meet in the FTOs etc. But what ever you do, NEVER trust what the FTOs are telling you. Believe me, I currently work in an FTO, and get sometimes sick when I hear what the sellers are saying to the "prospects"
If you need any more asistance, please. We are all here in this forum for you, and eachother.