This article is from page 2 of the 2008-04-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
NUMBERS unemployed in Clare have reached an 11 year high accord- ing to the latest figures from the Cen- tral Statistics Office (CSO). The live register now totals 5,126 — the high- est number since March 1997 when 5,253 were unemployed.
The figures show that the unem- ployment rate has increased by al- most 20% in the past 12 months, the lowest level having been in October 2000 when only 2,778 were on the live register.
The slowdown in the Clare con- struction sector in recent months is believed to be responsible for a large
slice of the increase.
It’s not all bad economic news for Clare, however. Ennis has proved to be one of just two towns in Ireland that are bucking the national trend of a shopping slowdown.
According to a _ just-published Retail Excellence Ireland review, O’Connell Street saw an increase of 39% in terms of hourly footfall be- tween March 2006 and March 2007. The number of people shopping in the street was up from 1,917 per hour to 2,658 per hour.
Responding to the unemployment figures, Deputy Joe Carey (FG) called for the fundamentals of bal- anced regional development to be
implemented to ensure Clare is well- positioned should the economy re- bound later this year.
“There is little doubt that the in- ternational banking and credit crisis has impacted on the Irish economy, fuelled by a downturn in the housing market, and I believe that sustained investment in the mid-west is vital for the region,’ he said.
On recent job losses in Clare, Dep- uty Carey commented: “We have seen these at companies such as Aer Lingus, Tyco Electronics, John Crane Ltd and Thompson Financial. We have also seen companies going on three-day weeks, unsure of what their future 1s.
“We have not seen this rate of in- crease for a very long time and there is nothing to indicate that either the rate or overall number will abate in the near future.
“So, as far as the region’s econom- icS are concerned, we need to start boxing clever”
Sinn Féin spokesperson Cathy McCafferty reacted to the CSO fig- ures, “The blame for this increase lies squarely with Government. De- spite unprecedented tax returns over a number of years the Goverment failed to plan ahead, deciding in- stead to rely on construction and the spending boom to keep the economy on track.”