Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The figures are being released today. I do not know what the normal protocol is but I have no problem giving them to the House now. The January live register figure will be 36,500 higher than the December 2008 figure. The overall figure will be 327,900 in January. That is an indication of the change that has taken place in recent times.

The whole purpose of the discussions with the social partners was to see in what way we can provide more training places for and help to people who lose their jobs. Obviously, the decision on reductions in public expenditure is an important signal, both home and abroad, of our preparedness to manage and stabilise the public finances.

In the addendum to the Irish stability programme update submitted to the European Commission at the beginning of the year, we took into account this deterioration and estimated, for the purposes of the figures, that approximately 400,000 would be unemployed by the end of the year.

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