John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Sunday, 7 October will mark one year since 525 people lost their jobs in Waterford with the closure of TalkTalk. The last time I raised the matter of unemployment in Waterford and the south east with the Minister was last June. At that time, the Minister said Waterford was being treated as a special case by development agencies and that this point needed to be reflected elsewhere across Government in order to meet the infrastructural problems in the area. Since then, there has been more joined-up thinking between the Departments and progress has been made. However, generally, the situation in the south east is getting steadily worse. Last week, another 55 jobs were lost at Kel-Tech Engineering and many jobs are being shed, including those at engineering companies, electrical firms and small businesses.

The last time I raised this matter with the Minister, I pointed out that the national unemployment rate in 1989 was 18.7%. In the south-east today it is 20% and the rate in some parts of Waterford city is 25%. The last time I raised the matter, I pointed out that we had seen a significant number of job announcements, such as Allergan Pharmaceuticals Ireland in Westport, Abbott, Big Fish Games, Hewlett-Packard, PayPal in Dundalk, Eli Lilly and Apple in Cork, and Mylan and Cisco Systems in Galway, but nothing in Waterford. That trend has continued. Since June, we have seen Fujitsu in Galway, 350 jobs at Electronic Arts in Galway, 400 jobs at the Northern Trust in Limerick, and further jobs at Radio Systems in Dundalk and Aspen in Dublin but nothing in Waterford. Someone in a senior position in a local authority in Waterford reminded me today that the last major announcement by foreign multinational in Waterford was 11 years ago.

I received a letter from a small businessman in the city on Monday and he correctly identified the mood in the city. He said that on one day he had spoken to two established traders who believed they are weeks away from closing and he pointed out that the city will lose yet more jobs and services and that other businesses will suffer a knock-on effect.

He says that for most of these businesses, his own included, the only reason doors have remained open is that everyone is taking his or her share of the burden. Suppliers are discounting and trying to keep their own ships afloat and staff are taking pay cuts and reduced working hours while working extremely hard and giving great value to their employers. Landlords are taking a hit and most business owners are taking home little or nothing. That, pretty much, sums up the mood in the business community in the city.

There is another issue, about which we must be careful. Social problems tend to manifest themselves when there is long-term, ingrained and chronically high levels of unemployment. When Garda numbers are being reduced the medium and long-term risks of serious crime heighten considerably. Waterford city, in particular, faces that scenario.

When the Minister has responded I would like to make a suggestion to him.

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