The Government’s lack of a jobs and stimulus package has never looked more damaging for Carlow/Kilkenny, according to Deputy Phil Hogan following the publication of the latest live register figures which show that the dole numbers in the constituency are now at 14,448.
This is 2,024 more than the figures recorded for May 2009.
Deputy Hogan said that this is a truly appalling situation, with the national overall unemployment figure now at 13.7 per cent.
“This is the highest number of unemployed people ever in Irish history with 439,100 now signing on around the country,” said Deputy Hogan. “The Government has spent the last month lying about its employment strategy and spinning against the opposition parties, instead of taking action to stem the jobs haemorrhage. It’s fair to say that the lack of any jobs strategy at Government level can be linked to this dismal surge in the Live Register.
Deputy Hogan pointed out that Fine Gael has proposed graduate internship programmes, second chance education and jobs-orientated changes to the social welfare code to keep young people at work or in education.
“And we have put together a constructive plan to take 40,000 people off the Live Register within 12 months, and to create 105,000 new jobs over four years through our new stimulus plan, but the Government has refused to implement these recommendations.
“Even though the Government adopted Fine Gael’s proposal for a PRSI holiday for employers who take on extra staff, it has spent the last six months dithering over its introduction and still has yet to do so.
“This week Ernst & Young predicted that unemployment will remain at 10 per cent for at least another five years. Even more bleak was its prediction that an entire generation will be blighted by high jobless levels.
“Carlow/Kilkenny urgently needs a jobs and competitiveness strategy. Bailing out the banks is not an investment in the future. In the week that €2 billion was poured into Anglo Irish Bank, the Government’s failure to provide a stimulus package for growth looks incredible. We need to invest in the real economy in order to get people back to work. That will clearly never happen under Fianna Fáil and the Greens.”
