The Taoiseach has today defended the Government’s policies on tackling uemployment as figures released today showed a rise in the numbers out of work.
The Central Statistics office this morning revealed that unemployment rose to an estimated rate of 6.7 per cent in October, up from 6.3 per cent the previous month. The number of people claiming unemployment benefits rose by 15,800 to 260,300, the seasonally adjusted figure.
Speaking in the Dáil this morning, Brian Cowen said that about 252,000 people were now on the Live Register, some 6.7 per cent of total workforce.
Responding, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said: “That is almost 100,000 more people out of work than this time last year. It’s a really shocking figure, and a really shocking level of job losses . . . 2,000 jobs lost a week over the course of the past year.”
“Your response of a kind of business as usual . . . that’s the most frightening thing of all. Continuing the economic policies of the Government . . . is the problem. The only thing that your Budget did for the unemployed was make it harder for them to get the job seeker allowance."
Mr Gilmore continued: “Your Government has turned its back on the unemployed. They do not want the dole, they don’t want to be on a Fás course, they want to be in a job. People who are in employment want some sense they are not going to lose their jobs, and they are not getting this from the Government.”
But the Taoiseach said he “fundamentally disagreed” with Mr Gilmore.
Mr Cowen said the Government had allocated some €1.25 billion to the social welfare budget for next year as a contingency for rising employment, and that it was ensuring Fás and other employment-related agencies are providing initiatives to help job seekers.
He added that “major resources” were being applied in science, technology, and innovation, and that Enterprise Ireland was identifying high-performance start-up businesses and “internationalising” Irish business.
“We have to maintain the competitiveness of the economy. Every economy in recession is losing jobs . . . that is a fact,” the Taoiseach said.
“We are maintaining a public investment programme totalling €8.2 billion that is providing not only jobs but necessary economic infrastructure,” said Mr Cowen, who defended State agencies as good service providers.
He told Mr Gilmore that the State sector had created employment in terms of teachers, gardaí and nurses to provide a level of service that Labour could only aspire to when last in government.
In a statement, Mr Gilmore added: "It is clear now that unless some action is urgently taken, we are again going to see 300,000 again on the Live Register - a figure not seen since the 1980s.
"The huge increase in the numbers out of work is greatly adding to our economic difficulties. We are losing the tax revenue that people in work would be paying, while we are facing significant additional costs for unemployment and secondary benefits for those who could be in work and who want to be in work."
Commenting on the figures, Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar said families were now suffering from Fianna Fáil’s “botched handling” of the economy.
“In percentage terms, the standardised unemployment Rate of 6.7 per cent is the highest since 1998. Ireland is now certain to overtake the EU average by the end of the year.”
Calling for action on unemployment, Mr Varadkar accused the Government of throwing in the towel on unemployment “in the same way it has thrown in the towel on public services and the public finances”.
He added: “The Government must overhaul Fás and provide a public works scheme for the unemployed. We need to restore competitiveness and support business, especially small/medium enterprises."
The Fine Gael TD called for a freezing of rates and development levies, a reduction in utility costs, investment in infrastructure, a suspension of the pay deal, and a speedy recapitalising of the banks so that businesses could get credit.
Sinn Féin TD Arthur Morgan criticised what he said was Government inaction on job creation.
“This Government ignored all the warning signs that the economy was heading for a slowdown and failed to prepare for the recession even though all the economic indicators pointed to such inevitability,” the party's economic spokesman said.
He called for an education scheme for young construction workers under the age of 25 without Leaving Certificates.
The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) said it was disappointed with the lack of any new initiatives in the Budget to tackle rising unemployment in light of a seasonally adjusted jobless figure that was up a "frightening" 57 per cent on October 2007.
Bríd O’Brien, head of policy and media with the INOU, warned: “The current labour market policy of pursuing jobs in the knowledge based economy will not meet the employment needs of a significant section of our labour force."
The Irish Small & Medium Enterprises' Association (Isme), described the increase in the Live Register as calamitous and warned that the State may "sleepwalk" into a depression not seen before.
Isme called on the Government to suspend the national pay deal, take action on energy prices, and support "cash-starved" businesses.
