Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 10 Dec 1997

Vol. 484 No. 4

Written Answers - Unemployment Levels.

Jack Wall

Ceist:

101 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he will publish the number of unemployed persons registered in areas (details supplied) in County Kildare for each of the years 1990 to 1997; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22465/97]

Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs (Mr. D. Ahern)

Historical data on the numbers of unemployed are not available at the local level requested by the Deputy. Information is available, however, for the total number of persons registered as unemployed at each Social Welfare local office in Kildare. These figures are contained in table 1 and refer to the period October 1990-October 1997. Table 2 lists the areas referred to by the Deputy and their corresponding local office. Information is also included for the Blessington Office, as some individuals from Kildare are registered at this office.

The figures in table 1 show that the total live register for County Kildare increased from 5,791 in 1990 to 8,646 in 1992 — an increase of almost 50 per cent, and since then, has fallen to 6,797 — a drop of 21 per cent. The national figures for these same periods showed an increase of almost 30 per cent followed by a drop of 17 per cent.

Although the rise in unemployment in Kildare in the early 1990s exceeded the national average, it should be noted that the population of County Kildare increased by over 5 per cent between 1986 and 1991 and by a further 10 per cent between 1991 and 1996. The national population figures for these periods showed a drop of 0.5 per cent followed by an increase of almost 3 per cent.

Table 1

Unemployment Figures for Social Welfare Local Offices in Kildare and part of Wicklow

	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997
Athy
Male	722	801	1,037	983	828	811	760	688
Female	267	280	395	329	402	367	406	357
Total	989	1,081	1,432	1,312	1,230	1,178	1,166	1,045
Kildare
Male	619	728	872	835	788	791	678	698
Female	199	253	290	278	268	275	295	258
Total	818	981	1,162	1,113	1,056	1,066	973	956
Maynooth
Male	1,042	1,345	1,677	1,576	1,459	1,390	1,221	885
Female	757	886	1,166	1,131	1,190	1,270	1,160	1,172
Total	1,799	2,231	2,843	2,707	2,649	2,660	2,381	2,057
Newbridge
Male	1,377	1,742	1,934	2,098	1,916	1,987	1,763	1,466
Female	808	1,044	1,275	1,302	1,281	1,379	1,368	1,273
Total	2,185	2,786	3,209	3,400	3,197	3,366	3,131	2,739
Blessington
Male	188	238	302	288	186	215	179	168
Female	90	122	141	170	153	165	167	158
Total	278	360	443	458	339	380	346	326

Source: Live Register Area Analysis published by the Central Statistics Office.

Table 2

Social Welfare Local Office	Area Covered
Newbridge	Newbridge
	Monasterevin
	Kilcullen
	Prosperous
Athy	Athy
	Castledermot
	Ballytore
Kildare	Kildare Town
	Rathangan
Blessington	Ballymore-Eustace