Unemployment Doubles in Dublin 15

The latest Live Register figures for Dublin 15 show that another 328 of people signed on the dole during the month of March. This brings to 7,635 the number of people signing on in the Blanchardstown Social Welfare Office. This time last year, that figure stood at 3,650 - an increase of 92%. Of those, 1,669 were under 25s this figure has risen by up 96% since March 2008

These local figures bring home the stark reality of the economic crisis this country is in.
We need strong and decisive action from the government to tackle the problem of unemployment in particular long-term unemployment. In the 1970s and 80s, Dublin 15 was blighted by long-term unemployment and the associated problems of crime, medical problems and family breakdown. We can not allow this to happen again.

Fine Gael has proposed a number of measures to get Ireland working again. These include:

- Waiving Employers PRSI for new employees taken on over the next two years;
- Set up a loan guarantee for viable small businesses in distress;
- Overhaul the 1bn FAS budget and provide new training grants for budding entrepreneurs to avail of education and training;
- Reduce the qualifying period for the Back to Enterprise allowance from two years to six months;
- Rewrite the National Development Plan to frontload labour-intensive projects.

Earlier this month, Fine Gael launched a national stimulus plan which would bring the National Pension Fund back home to invest in. This would create an extra 100,000 jobs in the economy through investment in green energy and a modern infrastructure.

I support these measures, and am working closely with Dublin West TD Leo Varadkar who has raised these issues in the Dil repeatedly over the past two years.
The latest decision by the rating agency S&P to downgrade Irelands credit rating is bad news for Ireland at a very bad time making borrowing more expensive and making it even harder for the economy to recover. Interestingly the S&P hinted they do not expect decisive action from the government this side of a general election, so the sooner that happens the better for all of us.


CSO Figures:
Local Office County Feb-09 Mar-09 Change % Change
Blanchardstown Dublin 7307 7635 328 4.5%

Local Office County Mar-08 Mar-09 Change % Change
Blanchardstown Dublin 3985 7635 3650 91.6%

Under 25s
Local Office County Mar-08 Feb-09 Mar-09 Monthly Change Yearly Change
Blanchardstown Dublin 851 1594 1669 75 4.7% 818 96.1%