LOCAL politicians have reacted strongly to the latest increase in live register figures which now shows that there are over 15,000 signing on in the city.
There is a total of 21,794 people unemployed in Limerick, with 15,475 of these signing on in the city.
Fine Gael TD Kieran O’Donnell, has called for immediate government intervention.
“It is now a nearly a year and a half since the announcement by Dell of the closure of their manufacturing facility in Raheen, and we have seen live register figures increase by 55% or 7,764 persons in Limerick overall, with 70% of this increase or 5,400 in the city, as against a national increase of 50% over this same period.
“Yet there is no sign of any replacement industry, nor any major initiative from the government to replace the jobs”.
Sinn Féin city councillor Maurice Quinlivan, is concerned about the number of young people signing on and the government’s dependency on emigration.
“Of particular concern is the number of young people under 25 who are claiming the dole – which now stands at 4,357. I have no doubt but for the large numbers of young emigrating, these figures would be higher.
“These young people represent the future of our country and our economy, but the government’s only response to the crisis of youth unemployment is to cut welfare payments to young people”.
