OPPOSITION REACTION:FINE GAEL has accused the Government of "turning its back on the unemployed" and has called for immediate action to increase the number of Community Employment schemes.
The Government was also heavily criticised by Labour’s Willie Penrose who said the latest Live Register figures were “shocking beyond belief” and Sinn Féin’s Arthur Morgan, who described them as “catastrophic”.
Fine Gael spokesman on enterprise, trade and employment Leo Varadkar said the increase of 26,700 in the Live Register amounted to almost 1,000 a day.
“Irish unemployment is now fourth highest in the European Union. With more than 350,000 now signing on the Live Register, unemployment is even higher than Iceland and Latvia, two of Europe’s worst performers,” he said. “Fianna Fáil has done nothing to support businesses or save jobs, and has discarded the unemployed by the side of the street as if they were pieces of litter.”
Mr Penrose, Labour spokesman on employment, said: “No government in the history of the State has ever presided over such a rate of increase in the level of unemployment.
“Unemployment is now cutting a swathe of social destruction through the country. Unless action is taken, long-term unemployment will leave a devastating legacy in communities from which it will take decades to recover.
“Unemployment is also contributing hugely to our economic problems. With every job lost costing the exchequer €20,000 through extra social welfare spending and tax forgone, the additional cost of the 165,000 added to the Live Register over the past 12 months amounts to €3.3 billion.”
Mr Morgan, Sinn Féin’s economic spokesman, called the soaring figures catastrophic and noted that “until a plan for getting Ireland back to work is delivered this downward spiral will continue”.
He continued: “The number one priority should be retaining and creating jobs. It should be getting Ireland back to work. We need a plan to hold on to or create the 1,000 jobs a day that are being lost. We need to fast-track business start-ups. We need to create a sales Ireland strategy that maximises our existing indigenous export market as well as developing its growth prospects in the immediate and longer term.”
