Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I will pick up on the topic raised by the Deputies. I tabled a priority question about the CSO's publication on employment blackspots and highlighted the situation in Limerick in particular. While I recognise that the relevant functions have been transferred to the Department of Social Protection, there is an overlap, so will the Minister furnish us with her views on the matter?

I wish to impress upon the Minister the point that, in Limerick and the other blackspots, unemployment is intergenerational, with households having two, three or four generations of unemployment. That is the key underlying factor. What can the Minister do to try to address this situation? Unemployment seems to be rolling over and rolling over within particular households in places like Limerick, Waterford, Dublin and so on.

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