Month: August 2012

UNEMPLOYMENT in Clare is at a four-month high, but the numbers signing on have dropped compared to this time last year. However, there are now more women on the dole queues than there were this time last year.

As many as 10,437 people were receiving some form of unemployment assistance in the county last month.

This is the lowest number of people seeking unemployment payments during the month of July since the number unemployed rose significantly in 2009.

In July 2008, 6,023 Clare people were unemployed. By July 2009, the number had jumped to 10,497 and increased again to 10,796 this time last year.

There was a slight drop of 271 this July when compared to 12 months ago. However, unemployment in the county had increased by 239 compared to June 2012.

While the overall unemployment number has dropped compared to last year, there was a slight increase in the number of women signing on. However there are still over 2,000 more men than women on Clare’s dole queues even though the number of men seeking job assistance had dropped by 288 on last year.

There are also less people under 25 seeking employment compared to the same time last year. However, the unemployment rate among this age group has increased by 59 to 1,729 compared to June.

The number of people over 25 years of age unemployed has now reached 8,708 an increase of 180 on the previous month but a drop of 85 on last year.

The largest number of Clare people seeking unemployment assistance do so in Ennis, with 5,995 people signing on last month.

This compares favourably to July 2011 when 6,159 people were signing on.

In Ennis, the number of women in receipt of Jobseekers Allowance and unemployment benefit has increased slightly, while the number of men in the same position has decreased.

This is a fact reflected in two of the three social welfare areas, the exception being Tulla where 1, 501 people are currently unemployed.

Here too the number of unemployed decreased slightly compared to 12 months ago. However, there was a drop in unemployment rates among both genders.

In Kilrush, the number unemployed was at 1,449, a drop of just seven compared to last year, while in Ennistymon there was a decrease of 33 to 1,492 people on the unemployment list.

CRIMINALS in Kilrush will quite literally be in the frame for any wrong doings within the next few months, as plans for the town’s first CCTV system is finalised.

The town’s local authority has agreed to relocate funding from its own budget to install the crime de- tecting and deterring cameras in the west Clare town.

Kilrush Town Clerk John Corry said plans for CCTV in Kilrush is at an advanced stage.

He told a meeting of the Kilrush Joint Policing Committee (JPC) that the council has learnt that the project now has to go through the planning process.

This will take at least three months.

“We will go to procurements at the same time, which would have taken two months anyhow,” he explained.

Supt Gerry Wall offered some time and money saving ideas to the council, as he welcomed the initiative.

“People become used to CCTV in an area and move on to somewhere else, so we need flexibility,” he said.

He suggested that the council apply for a number of locations that far exceed the number of cameras during the planning process.

The cameras could then be moved quickly to a new location where it may be needed in the fight against crime.

“A little forecasting now would save money in the future,” he said.

The members of the JPC, made up of the council, gardaí and community representatives, are now encouraging members of the public to come to the next public meeting of the committee, to have their say about policing in the area and raise any concerns they may have.

“If they have interest in the community and have a place they believe me or my colleagues should be, this is the place for it,” he said.