Deputy Willie Penrose has reacted with anger to new figures which reveal that the number of redundancies in Westmeath increased by 74 per cent in 2008 over the previous year.
The figures, which were released by the the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment this week, show that in the period from January-December 2008 there were 785 redundancies in Westmeath.
This represents an increase of 74 per cent on same period in 2007, during which there were 452 redundancies in the county.
According to Deputy Penrose, the failure of the Government to tackle the credit crisis has resulted in many of Westmeath’s small and medium businesses having to make people redundant or in many cases shut down completely.
“Westmeath is not isolated from the severe impacts of the recession. This is why I moved a motion in the Dail in November calling on the Government to give small and medium enterprises the opportunity to fight through the recession.
“These redundancies have arisen where small businesses are profitable, but because of the fact that they are facing a credit famine they have had no choice but to make people redundant. It is a clear failure on the part of the Government to deal with the banks, who are refusing to make available credit, which is the lifeblood of many companies.”
The Westmeath redundancy figures mirror the national picture, with redundancies in Ireland increasing by 60 per cent over the year. There were a total of 40,657 redundancies across the country during 2008, compared to 25,577 in 2007.
The trend was similar across the Midlands, with an increase in redundancies of 62 per cent in Offaly, 54 per cent in Longford, 81 per cent in Roscommon, and a massive 172 per cent in Laois.
Only one county showed a decrease in redundancies, with the numbers losing their jobs in Carlow falling by 18 per cent. Meanwhile in Monaghan, redundancies increased by 275 per cent over the year, the largest increase in the country.
According to the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association (ISME ), the 2008 redundancy figures represent a “labour market in crisis”. Redundancies are currently reaching 800 a week, with the December figures alone recorded a massive 95 per cent increase on the corresponding period in 2007.
The figures also confirm that over half (54 per cent ) the redundancies were in construction and manufacturing. However, 30 per cent of job losses were in the services sector and females now account for 31 per cent of redundancies, confirming that job losses are now spread throughout the whole economy.
Unless the cost of maintaining staff is addressed the labour market is in danger of collapse, the ISME has warned.
“The situation will continue to deteriorate, with ISME predicting that January will be the worst month on record for announced job losses. This is primarily due to the fact that many businesses are reviewing their options after the Christmas period,” said ISME chief executive, Mark Fielding.
Deputy Penrose believes that without functioning banks small businesses have no hope of surviving the recession.
“I wholeheartedly applaud the ethos of small businesses. They are created by people who have vision, determination, and the willingness to deliver on their ideas, create employment, and generate profits, in order to enable the Government to generate tax income which they can then redistribute.
“What is at issue is the loss of hundreds of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs. Every business relies on credit, and even those that are profitable are having to close down.
“The importance of small businesses cannot be overestimated. They are essential in maintaining the fabric of rural Ireland, and if they go other small businesses will go too.”
