Yesterday in the Dáil Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said there were fears about the mood of the country five weeks away from what is being branded the harshest Budget in the history of the State.
He stated:
“
It seems to me, as a country, we are hurtling headlong into a period of conflict, strife and a lot of division in society”.
Mr Gilmore blamed the looming crisis on Fianna Fáil‘s refusal to agree a way forward with others.
He said a plan of action was needed, through an agreed national recovery deal, to save jobs, prevent home repossessions and resolve the fall-out over public sector pay cuts.
Thurles.info has learned that there are 615 pending claims for Jobseeker’s Allowance and Benefit in North Tipperary. This number, when added to the latest Live Register figures for the area, actually brings the number of people on the dole to over 7,000. Live Register figures for the month of September showed 6,511 people are on the dole in North Tipperary. October’s live register figures are due out this Friday 6th November.
There are 58,282 waiting for Jobseeker’s Welfare payments nationwide. Both Cork and Galway have over 3,000 waiting. Limerick City has over 3,000 alone and in Dublin the waiting list is over 14,000 when pending claims from all local offices are considered.
Fine Gael Deputy Noel Coonan stated:
“The Government and Department of Social & Family Affairs must do all in its power to speed up the process and aid those who are looking for assistance after losing their job. The Government refuses to freeze business rates which would greatly help many North Tipperary small and medium enterprises to keep their heads over water, keep employees on the payroll and consequently off the dole. Seeing as we are severely lacking foreign direct investment into this constituency, we are relying on our own indigenous businesses. Fine Gael has presented effective measures to protect existing jobs and create new ones in its NewERA strategy, and Fianna Fáil should take these measures on board. NewERA is an economic stimulus which will re-structure policy and help rebuild Ireland”.
Figures reveal that 301 claims are currently pending in Nenagh including 199 for Jobseeker’s Allowance, 97 for Jobseeker’s Benefit and the remaining for Jobseeker’s Benefit Credits only.
In Thurles, 218 claims are pending. The majority of these are for Jobseeker’s Allowance. Roscrea has the least number of claims pending at 96, the majority of which are again for Jobseeker’s Allowance. In comparison, South Tipperary has 483 claims pending throughout four offices. The figures are for claims pending on 24th October.
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