For the tens of thousands of people without tradeable skills, the daily trumpet call to bright new techno-jobs must seem cruel irony. Many are over 45 and fear that they will never work again, some are under 25 but see their lack of education as an unbridgeable gulf between themselves and employment.

At international think-tanks like the OECD in Paris, whole seminars are regularly devoted to this section of the unemployed, with little effect. IDA Ireland sees long-term joblessness as a major problem, but reckons it is pointless to devote any time to solving the problem. In a global economy, low-tech jobs tend to move to low-wage countries.

"There is very little we can do to promote Ireland for low-skills, high-production employment. It is primarily a training issue, and a very political one," a spokesman said this week.

Last month, unemployment in the Republic stood at 243,961. But of that number, 44 per cent - 107,342 people - had been on the dole for more than a year. And 70,748 - enough to fill Croke Park - had been signing on for more than two years.

A quarter of all of those on the Live Register were over 45 years of age, and more than a fifth of the total - 23 per cent - were under 25 years.

Later this month, the Government will announce a new programme, targeting young unemployed people in unemployment blackspots around the State; Dublin's northside, inner city and Tallaght, Cork city and Limerick city.

Under the scheme, some 2,000 18 and 19 year olds will be allowed take up a job and still get 75 per cent of their dole money for a year. The following year, they will receive half their unemployment assistance, as well as whatever wages they earn.