Live Register figures fall in April 2005

10 May 2005

The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed welcomes the sizable decrease in both the unadjusted and seasonally adjusted Live Register figures for April. The statistics show that a monthly reduction of 6,056 for the unadjusted figure and a fall of 4,800 in the seasonally adjusted figure. The totals now stand at 151,619 and 154,200 respectively.

‘All decreases are welcome however it is ironic that large decreases were recorded in the South East region yet this week Waterford Crystal announced the loss of nearly 500 jobs in Dungarvan and Waterford.’ said Mr Eric Conroy, General Secretary INOU. ‘These redundancies together with the announcement that IBM is restructuring which could see the loss of up to 400 jobs in Dublin is further proof that the manufacturing sector is haemorrhaging in Ireland.

‘Admittedly Ireland’s economy is faring well but certain sectors and regions are extremely vulnerable and decisive action for these workers must be taken. Therefore we call for a pro-active taskforce to be set up in Dungarvan involving all the local community stakeholders. We must try and generate new business and job opportunities for the 390 people being made redundant in the town,’ he added.