“The latest live register figures for Mayo show shocking rises across the county with very little political debate happening in relation to stemming the flow,” according to Labour’s local election candidate, Harry Barrett.
Barrett stated: “The numbers signing on has now doubled in Westport, Castlebar, Claremorris and Ballinrobe. While some of this is down to seasonal factors, it shows the awful extent of the economic downturn on our towns.
“I believe these figures may even underestimate the extent of unemployment throughout the county because of a number of categories of unemployed people who are being denied benefits.
“One of the issues that has arisen in recent months is the treatment of self-employed people when they lose their jobs. Self-employed people don’t generally qualify for Jobseeker’s Benefit so they must apply instead for the means-tested Jobseekers Allowance. However, current rules mean that the deciding officer must look at the applicant’s previous year’s earnings to ascertain their means. In the current economic climate that is just ridiculous. The pace of the economic downturn means that in most cases last year’s earnings are no reflection of a person’s current means. Deciding officers are allowed to exercise some flexibility but there is ample evidence that this is not happening in many cases.
“I am calling on Fianna Fáil TDs in the county to pressurise the Minister to issue new guidelines to all deciding officers to ensure that jobseekers in genuine need of support get it. Also, the issue of employers’ PRSI must be looked at as a way of reducing costs on already stretched businesses,” Barrett concluded.
