Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have been listening to replies such as this since before the Minister's time. The fact remains that over 16% of the labour force in Wexford is still on the live register. Most of the jobs that have come on stream in the past 18 months have been part-time and of low quality. Low job quality is holding the region back severely. Income tax returns for Wexford and the south-east region are half the national average on a pro ratabasis. How shocking is that? There is huge underemployment in the region.

Recently, Dr. Ray Griffin of Waterford Institute of Technology was asked why things are still so problematic in places in the south east. He was talking about the south-east region, but County Wexford is by far the worst off of the counties in the south east. He said there are two main drivers of these problems. He said the weak labour market is driven by very low levels of educational attainment and poor service from the national agencies tasked with enterprise development. He says that it is national policy and that one can see that it is an unfavoured region. I am not blaming the Minister, as she has just started in the job, but specific help is required not just in the south east in general, but in Wexford in particular. The Minister knows I am not a parish pump merchant but when I canvassed during the last election two years ago, I went to approximately 20,000 houses and I was shocked at the level of poverty in the county. Wexford needs strong, specific help or it will remain in the doldrums. The N11 is packed with cars filled with fellas driving to the building sites in Dublin for work. There is no work in Wexford.

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