Labour Affairs Minister and Fianna Fáil TD for Mayo Dara Calleary has accused Fine Gael of deliberately ignoring the Government’s job plan on a day when the numbers of those signing on fell for the first time in two years. Earlier this week Fine Gael tried to “stoke up fear by incorrectly claiming that there was 60,000 more people unemployed than there actually are”, said Minister Calleary.
“The present rate of unemployment is deeply worrying but to suggest as Fine Gael has that the Government isn’t dealing with jobs crisis is simply untrue,” Minister Calleary said. “We have doubled the number of FÁS places to 128,000 this year, there are 25,000 people on back to work and back to education schemes. We have introduced an employment subsidy scheme to help employees retain their jobs while at the same time assisting employers. The Enterprise Stabilisation fund is helping to support vulnerable yet viable firms in the country.
“Meanwhile we are working to make Ireland more competitive,” the Minister added. “This year electricity prices have dropped by 10 per cent while gas prices are down 12 per cent and our exports are up by two per cent for the first seven months of this year.
“I am extremely aware of the real hardship and suffering experienced by those who have lost their jobs, that is why the opposition should concentrate less on making headlines and more on representing the facts.”
