Sir, – I write in respect of news coverage concerning the southeast’s economy (“Workers in Ireland’s southeast earn just over half the national average, survey finds”; “Brain drain in southeast leading to ‘lost generation’, warns report”, News, July 31st).
While we might have concerns about the tone of the articles and the picture they paint of this region, our primary issue is with two key and very prominent inaccuracies, neither of which is borne out by the South East Economic Monitor which prompted the stories.
These inaccuracies are: (1) “people in the southeast earn little more than half of the national average”; and (2) “unemployment is twice the national average”.
Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures published in April 2019 show that incomes in the southeast are 90 per cent of the national average. Data from the CSO in May showed the unemployment rate in the southeast in the first quarter of this year was 6.7 per cent compared to 4.8 per cent nationally. – Yours, etc,
ALAN QUIRKE,
Director,
Ireland South
East Development Office,
Waterford.