West Dole queue doubles – and it's only going to get worse
MORE than 2,570 people are signing on in Newcastle West - a rise of 1,269 from over the last 12 months.
The disheartening figures represent an unprecedented increase of 97 per cent from this time last year in the town.
Kilmallock has seen an increase of 1,956 people signing on - 968 more than 12 months ago.
And overall, Limerick's jobless count has almost doubled over the last year, with the numbers of people signing on county-wide exceeding 15,000.
The soar in the unemployment rate in the county is likely to continue: talks are continuing with Kostal's workers in Abbeyfeale, with the future of 200 staff up in the air, while a significant number of the 1,900 workers in Dell being laid off come from the west of the county.
Of those signing on in Newcastle West, 1,420 - the majority - are males over the age of 25, a similar profile to Kilmallock and the city.
Limerick West TD Niall Collins called on the regional jobs taskforce - which met for the first time this week - to work with Shannon Airport on the customs and border control pre-clearance scheme, set to commence this summer.
"Hopefully we can create a number of high value jobs here, because clearly we are not at the races when it comes to the manufacturing end of things. We need to create a new niche," he said.
Deputy Collins predicted "almost half" of the manufacturing staff losing their jobs in Dell will come from his constituency, and encouraged people losing their jobs to register with employment body FAS.
He said he thinks the fact Denis Brosnan - who last week confirmed he was to chair the jobs task force - lives in Croom will also help the West of the county.
A jobs club established by community development firm West Limerick Resources, based in Newcastle West, will see its membership rocket this year, according to the scheme's manager Shay Riordan.
Normally, the club - which works with FAS and the Department of Social and Family Affairs - welcomes 400 people each year, but this is expected to "substantially increase", according to Mr Riordan.
He said: "It (the unemployment crisis) is presenting huge challenges. From our perspective, there is a real need for us to work in close conjunction with the support agencies and the task force established in Limerick to address the fallout. We are still to determine how many people that will lose their jobs in Dell are from the West Limerick area, but our anticipation is (that it will be) quite high. We expect any actions considered by the task force to have consideration of the outlying areas."
And Mr Riordan added that the promise of 51,000 training positions nationwide, announced last week by FAS offers the group a "glimmer of hope."
Limerick West TD John Cregan described the figures as "alarming."
He repeated his call for west Limerick to be prioritised in terms of future foreign direct investment.
"For the last number of years we have been fortunate to have full employment here so no multi-nationals have set up. We were fortunate in the sense that jobs were created from indigenous industries, with West Limerick Resources playing its part. However, now with the jobless figures so high, there should be more of an effort made in west Limerick.
"Askeaton Business Park has 200 acres of land, but we have never seen a job created there. It has good access from the N69, and should be an attractive location, especially as it is adjacent to the Foynes port," he explained.
Deputy Cregan also confirmed he had raised the issue with Tanaiste Mary Coughlan, who said she would bring it to the attention of the state agencies.
At the end of January, the national live register stood at 327,861 people - up from 181,449 from 12 months ago.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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