Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

The latest statistics from the CSO indicate that, at 14.9%, unemployment has reached its highest rate in 18 years. More than one in two of those people has been unemployed for more than a year and one in three has been unemployed for two years or more. We welcome the fact that more people are now on training schemes but that masks the real rate of unemployment. Some 75,000 people per year are leaving the country, which is 200 people per day. There has been a jobs initiative, a jobs budget and an action plan for jobs. In view of the statistics, does the Minister agree with the statement by the Tánaiste that unemployment is reducing and the jobs initiative is working?

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