Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)

Is the Minister not aware that Carrick-on-Suir already has strengths? It is on the N24 and is within 15 miles of Waterford city and its airport. It is a fine town. It is tenable to demand that jobs be created in Carrick-on-Suir for at least some of the 960 people who have been unemployed there for the past ten years. There are more people unemployed in the town today than there were when this Government took office in 1997. I demand that the Minister establish a task force for Carrick-on-Suir and prioritise the town. I make no apology for doing so. It is unacceptable and untenable that this number of people remains unemployed in a town of the size of Carrick-on-Suir. The Minister should establish that task force immediately.

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