Cllr Harry Barrett has welcomed the release of Live Register figures for March 2014, released by the CSO yesterday, showing a decrease of 7.06 per cent in the figures for Mayo. However Cllr Barrett has expressed concern over the Castlebar figure, which is the lowest decrease of all the towns in county Mayo, coming in at just over four per cent.
Cllr Barrett said: "I welcome the decrease in the overall Mayo figure, showing a seven per cent decrease in the Live Register, however I have concern for the county town, which seems to be lagging behind other towns in the county. Castlebar's figures show that the Live Register only dropped by 96 persons, or four per cent, over the entire year. This shows that the town is not benefiting from the overall national trend that is seeing an improvement in Live Register figures. Castlebar has the lowest rate of improvement and it shows again that the town is being starved of new investment, new production and, as a consequence, the new money that our town needs to sustain our family run businesses. The trend is positive for the county, but the county town is lagging behind and needs a factory or a semi-State industry to kick start a revival in Castlebar. I call again on An Taoiseach to react to the ongoing jobs crisis that we face in Castlebar, by tasking the IDA to deliver to his town, as has happened time and time again in Limerick, Dublin, and Cork.”
