Fine Gael TD for Wicklow/East Carlow, Andrew Doyle, has said that today’s (Wednesday) Live Register figures provide further evidence that the economic recovery is firmly underway.
The seasonally adjusted figures show that 3,500 people were removed from the live register in October. As a result the unemployment fell from 11.1% to 11%, the lowest rate since 2009. The CSO figures come on foot of a report by the European Commission which states that Ireland has the fastest economic growth in the EU and that our economic recovery has ‘gathered firm momentum’.
“This Government has been given the task of getting this country back on its feet and these figures show that economic recovery is real and is resulting in people getting back to work. Over 70,000 jobs have been created in the private sector since the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs began in February 2012.
“As a result, unemployment has fallen from 15.1% when we came into government to 11% today. The Government’s Action Plan for Jobs is a practical plan designed to get people back to work – and it is working. The Government’s job is to create the environment for jobs and it has done so by reducing red tape for small businesses, investing in third level ICT programmes, which will attract investors, and going out and selling Ireland to investors abroad.
“Under the previous Fianna Fáil led Government, 90,000 jobs a year were lost in the private sector as a result of years of Fianna Fáil’s poor economic planning, cronyism, lack of regulation and waste.
“The consistent reductions in the live register and unemployment figures show that our approach is working. Today’s figures show the real impact of this progress. Far too many people are still out of work and many people are still struggling. We still have a long way to go, but this announcement shows that we are rebuilding our economy.
“The CSO figures come on foot of an extremely encouraging economic report by the European Commission which shows that Ireland has the fastest economic growth in the EU. It is also predicted to have the highest growth in 2015 and 2016. In fact the European Commission predicts that our economy will grow by 12.4% in the next two years.
“The report states: “Ireland is decoupling from the euro area, as its recovery broadens and gathers firm momentum. This robust and faster-than-expected expansion should bolster government revenues and facilitate a reduction of the deficit.”