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Story: Inishowen Independent
BUNCRANA-based Councillor Padraig MacLochlainn has
said a radical new direction on job creation is
needed in Donegal following news that unemployment
across Donegal has increased by 22% in the last two
years.
The figures are also bad news for Inishowen with the
number of people seeking unemployment assistance in
Inishowen growing again last month and now standing
at 2,223, up from 2,110 in February.
Indeed unemployment in Inishowen has reached its
highest point in almost nine years; the last time so
many people were signing on in Buncrana, which is
the central social welfare office for all of
Inishowen, was August 1999 when 2,298 people were on
the live register.
However, it is when the March 2008 rate is compared
to the same month in 2007 and 2006 that the real
impact of job losses can be seen. There are now 712
more people signing on than at the same time just
two years ago, a massive 47% increase.
In March 2007 there were 1,669 people signing on in
Inishowen, while just 1,511 signed on in March 2006.
Of the 2,223 currently on the live register, 1,425
(64%) are men, with men aged 25 and over accounting
for almost 1,100 of those.
While past increases have been largely among men and
therefore attributed to job losses in the
construction sector, the March figures indicate the
slowdown is spreading elsewhere in the local
economy. The number of women claiming the dole in
Inishowen (798) rose by just over 6% between
February and March, while the increase among men was
4%.
County wide, there are now 10,352 signing on the
live register, an increase of 395 on February.
Reacting to the figures, councillor MacLochlainn
said that the challenges are to shatter any sense
that Donegal and the cross border region are
peripheral.
“This is a small island. Plans to upgrade the A5 to
Dublin and the A6 to Belfast are progressing through
partnership between the Irish Government and the
Northern Assembly. It is crucial to Inishowen and
Donegal that more of these initiatives continue. The
next challenge will be a rail link between Derry and
Sligo to complete an all island rail loop.”
The Sinn Fein councillor also insisted Donegal needs
to be ahead of the curve.
“We need to deliver the next generation
infrastructure required to allow Donegal to
genuinely deliver a knowledge-based economy. We need
partnership and joined up thinking between all of
the educational institutions in the North West cross
border region to be leaders and partners in research
and development and I would repeat my party's call
for one All island enterprise agency to coordinate
this strategy ensuring that entrepreneurs and
businesses in our county and our region are
empowered to survive, innovate, and grow in a
fiercely competitive global economy.”
He concluded: “Through my new role on the board of
InterTradeIreland, I intend to bring together a team
of experts to outline these arguments later this
year at a seminar in the county. With unemployment
on the rise again in Donegal, we can't stand still
anymore.” |
