THE number of people signing on the Live Register in Dublin Mid-West has decreased by 927 in the last year.
The figures for August this year show that there were 7,169 people signing on. This amounts to a reduction of 11.4% on the same period last year when there were 8,096 people signing on.
Local Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said that an 11.5% drop indicates the steady growth in the economy in Lucan, Clondalkin, Saggart, Newcastle, Rathcoole, Brittas and Palmerstown.
She said: “Since the Action Plan for Jobs was introduced in 2012, it has been one of the Government’s key instruments to support job creation.
“Each week in 2015over 1,300 jobs have been added to the economy, showing that the Government’s
plan to get the economy back on track is working. All regions have experienced job increases and unemployment decreases in the past year, meaning that the recovery is spreading to all parts ofthe country.
“We have seen investment and job creation by a wide range of businesses across the area in the
past number of months, including in Grange Castle Business Park, Liffey Valley, and the investment by Irish Distillers in their Fox and Geese bottling plant.
“There is no doubt that more jobs and opportunities are needed here but the Live Register figures are very encouraging. However, the recovery is still fragile and there are still people who have not felt its benefits,” she said. Clondalkin Deputy Number on dole in Mid West continues to fall Robert Dowds (Lab) also welcomed the figures.
S p e a k i n g t o T h e Gazette, he said: “There is no doubt that things are much better now than they were four years ago and that we’re long past the worst of the economic collapse. It is fantastic to see this being felt in Clondalkin, Lucan, Palmerstown, Saggart, Rathcoole and Newcastle through sharply falling numbers of people who are signing on the dole.
“It’s a very good sign and hopefully it will keep going in the right direction.”
Cllr Eoin O Broin (SF) said the Live Register did not measure the number of people in work and accused the Government of massaging the figures. He said: “Unfortunately the Government refuses to provide data on the number of people in employment by local area so we simply do not know what the local employment situation is like.
“There are a number of reasons why the Live Register in Dublin Mid- West is falling. Some people are moving into employment and where the jobs are secure and properly paid, I welcome that. Unfortunately many people can only get insecure badly paid jobs.
“However, there are also people emigrating, on low wage employment schemes such as JobBridge and Gateway, as well as those returning to full time education. There are up to 80,000 people in labour activation schemes across the country.
“These people are unemployed but not included in the Live Register figures.
“The real test of a recovery is not the massaged figures spun out by Minister Fitzgerald but whether ordinary people are experiencing real improvements in their lives. For the vast majority of people things are not getting better.
“If there is a recovery it is a deeply unfair one with a small section of society benefiting while the rest of us are left behind facing cuts to services and increased taxes and charges.”
