40% increase recorded in Clare jobless figures in the past year

Disposable income in Clare is below the national average while the number of people signing on the Live Register has increased, according to figures released this week. Nicola Corless examines the affects of the economic decline on people in the Banner County.

The number of people signing on in Clare has increased by nearly 40% in the past year and has more than doubled since December 2007.
Figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that there were more than 10,400 people signing on in December, compared to just under 7,500 in the same month last year, up from 4,696 in December 2007.
According to the most recent population count, these figures mean that more than 9% of people in the county are now on the Live Register.
Nearly half of all those signing on in the county are doing so in Ennis, where the number on the Live Register has increased by 37%, from 4,258 to 5,846, in the past year.
The highest percentage increase in the numbers signing on was in East Clare where the figure went up by almost half. The Live Register in Tulla grew by 48%, from 999 at the end of 2008 to 1,480 last month.
In North Clare, the number signing on has increased by 445 to 1,659 from December 2008 to last month. In West Clare, there was a comparable increase, with 1,419 people signing on in Kilrush in December, an increase of 38%.
Following the publication of the 2009 Live Register figures showing the 38.7% increase in the number of people signing on in County Clare, Fine Gael’s Deputy Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and Clare TD Pat Breen has called on the Government to immediately accelerate the finalisation of the Mid-West Task Force Report.
Deputy Breen claims that the Government has ignored the findings of the interim report, with no action taken on the recommendations to date.
According to Deputy Breen, the marginal increase of 2.1% in the number of under 25s signing on between November and December masks the true situation.
“The reality is that many of our youngest and brightest are now leaving the country at a rate not seen here since the early 1980s and we are losing another generation of our young people to emigration,” he stated.
“An analysis of the year-end CSO Live Register figures reveals a 38.7% increase in unemployment in County Clare over the past 12 months, rising from 7,499 in December 2008 to 10,404 at the end of 2009. Over the past two years unemployment in this county has risen by 121.6% and what is particularly worrying is the rise in unemployment among the under 25s for the same period. In the past two years, the number of those registered as unemployed in this category has risen from 836 at the end of December 2007 to 2,026 at the end of December 2009, a massive increase of 142.3%,” Deputy Breen continued.
Deputy Breen highlighted the critical situation in the Mid-West region relating to unemployment and accused the Government of not taking steps to address the situation.
“At the beginning of last year, Dell announced the shedding of 1,900 jobs and throughout the past year, there were several other high-profile job losses in the region, including job losses at Element Six, Molex, Advocent and Sykes Enterprises in the Shannon Free Zone. A significant number of jobs were also lost in small and medium businesses throughout the county, with consumer spending at an all time low, many businesses were forced to close their doors. While the situation has continued to deteriorate, instead of taking a proactive approach, the Government is sitting on their hands. The Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment was presented with the interim report from the Mid-West Task Force last July and to date no action has been taken on its recommendations. It appears this region has gone off the Government’s radar,” he claimed.
According to the Fine Gael TD, the report must be implemented for the region to recover and additional funding should be provided to the region to market it for tourism product. Deputy Breen stated that confidence must be restored in the banking sector and any outstanding issues delaying the commencement of general aviation pre-clearance at Shannon Airport must be resolved, adding that Aer Lingus must be encouraged to use the US pre-clearance facilities at the airport.
“The Government has squandered valuable time. The Mid-West Region must be put back on the map as an attractive region to do business in. This will require creative thinking and innovation. It will always require leadership, which is sadly lacking from this Government at present,” Deputy Breen added.