Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Government would stop citing the fall in unemployment figures, for its own sake. The reason the unemployment figures have fallen is emigration. That is why I am asking this question. It is not because of anything the Government has done to create jobs. Some 8,000 people have left the county and that why there is a decline in unemployment figures. That is what we are getting at.

From the survey I have done, 75% of small businesses rely on local trade. They do not rely on tourism trade. Local trade is what we need to develop and foster to ensure they stay there. It is the thing the Government needs to concentrate on to ensure that local businesses can survive, which is the only way to ensure the county survives. If there are not people there, all the tourism factors the Government wants will not make any difference. It is the people whom tourists come to meet and see and that is what we have to protect.

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