Unemployment falls by 10% in Cavan

The number of people on the Live Register has fallen by almost 10% in the past year in County Cavan. The latest figures, released last week, show that at the end of October the number of those 'signing on’ in the county stood at 5,446 - a drop of 578 people on the same period last year.

The figures have prompted local government TD Joe O’Reilly to reiterate the Fine Gael government’s promise to “see all the jobs lost during the economic crisis replaced by 2018”.
The fall locally is in line with national trends. Nationally, there were 320,794 people on the Live Register at the end of October, representing an annual decrease of 37,836 (10.6%).
Deputy O’Reilly claimed that the Live Register figures have dropped by over a quarter since the government launched its Action Plan for Jobs in February 2012.
“This Government will work to keep the economic recovery going which helps us to provide better services for all of society. Crucial to this is the ongoing job creation successes we are seeing in Cavan and right across the country,” said Deputy O’Reilly.
While welcoming the drop in Live Register figures, Fianna Fáil’s Brendan Smith pointed out: “Unfortunately, there is never a direct correlation between a reduction in unemployment and the creation of new jobs. Emigration and people participating on courses contribute to the reduction in unemployment levels.”
He also pointed out that, nationally, there has been little or no decrease in female unemployment over the past seven months, which “is a real cause for concern”.
Deputy Smith called for real efforts to be made to ensure that women are not “left behind”.
“It is essential that women are given the same opportunities to upskill to allow them to break into growing job sectors where they are currently under-represented like in areas such as Information Technology.
“The headline statistics in relation to unemployment are welcome but we have a long way to go in the creation of much needed employment opportunities in Cavan/Monaghan. Extra support must be given by Government to small and medium enterprises to maintain and grow employment as they are the bedrock of the Irish economy,” he concluded.