Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I dispute the Minister's figures. The national average unemployment rate at the moment is 7.2%, the unemployment rate in the south east currently stands at 12.5%, while the unemployment rate in Wexford is 18.4%. It is a separate county, although I accept it is not classified as such, but not only is the south-east region badly served, Wexford is the worst served part of the south-east region. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Halligan, is well aware of the facts.

Wexford has the third highest rate of unemployment in the country. It has the highest rate of suicide, one of the highest rates of rent supplement payments in the State and one of the highest percentage rates of people having no formal primary education at 18.5%. We have one of the lowest percentage rates, 20.9%, of people going on to third level, and one of the highest percentage rates of lone parents in the State. We are the third most deprived county in the country and by far the most deprived county in the south east. Wexford finds itself on the wrong end of almost every chart there is, and it is frightening that any county has been left behind to such a degree. I accept that is not the fault of the Minister. Too much parish pump politics over the years has left Wexford in the State it is in. Are there plans to introduce proactive measures to address the fact that we are living in the Dark Ages in Wexford?

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