Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The official measure of unemployment comes from the quarterly national household survey. The most recent data show that unemployment has fallen from a peak of 15% in 2012 to 6.7% at the end of 2016. Numbers at work have increased from 1.825 million at the start of 2012 to 2.048 million at the end of last year, which is an increase of almost 250,000 people. Within the south east, unemployment has fallen from 20.1% to 9.4% over the same period, and numbers in employment have increased by 33,500 to 214,800. Unemployment in the south east has fallen by more than half since my party came into office.

The live register, which captures those registering for unemployment benefits, including people working part-time who draw partial unemployment payments, is an administrative record. While data from the quarterly national household survey are not available on a county level, trends in the live register can give an indication of underlying trends in unemployment.

Overall, the live register in Wexford has fallen by 37.5% in the period from 2012 to March 2017 compared with a reduction of 36.5% nationally. In the year to March 2017, the live register has fallen by 2,112 people, or almost 15%, compared with 12.8% nationally. These figures show that Wexford, although it is a county with high unemployment, is now catching up with the rest of the country and unemployment in Wexford is now falling faster than in the country as a whole.

The Department has ten activation case officers and an activation support team in Wexford. These officers are based across the county and work closely with other stakeholders including the Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board to identify suitable training and educational opportunities for jobseekers in Wexford. Case officers in Wexford are currently working with over 1,400 people in identifying suitable employment and training opportunities. Almost 3,000 referrals to training and educational opportunities took place in 2016, and 1,165 have been made to date in 2017, an increase of over 33% on the same period last year.

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Case officers also work closely with employers to ensure that suitable people are matched to appropriate vacancies and in promoting the back to work enterprise allowance for those wishing to pursue self-employment.

Additional activation capacity has also been sourced through the local employment service operated by Wexford Local Development which employs eight mediators across the county.

Furthermore, there are almost 1,000 community employment places available to long-term unemployed jobseekers and over 300 places available on the Tús programme in Wexford.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I did not claim, nor do I believe, that everything is rosy in the garden of Wexford. That is not what I said. I appreciate that there are long-standing problems in Wexford. As Deputy Walllace knows, I lived there for a few months while I was a hospital doctor. I got to know the county and liked it a lot. It has a lot to offer. It has not done as well is it should have done for decades now and has a lot of the problems that the Deputy mentioned. It is encouraging that unemployment is now falling in the county and I do not think anyone is denying that. I have given examples of some of the things that my Department is doing.

There are other important things happening. Deputy Wallace will be aware of the investment in the Wexford road infrastructure which is crucial to driving economic growth. The very important Enniscorthy and New Ross bypasses are pressing ahead. There have been other very good road investments in the county.

Deputy Wallace will be familiar with the broadband plan produced the other day. There are a lot of yellow areas, that is, areas with no high speed broadband, in Wexford which will benefit from intervention. There is the potential for Rosslare Port to become a more important sea facility because we may, depending on trade arrangements with Britain, need far more direct links with France. There is potential in that for Rosslare in particular.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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No one thing will solve all our problems. However, the vast majority of people in Wexford, certainly any I have talked to, welcome the substantial investment that has been made in the road network in Wexford including that Gorey is bypassed and we are building new roads for Enniscorthy and New Ross. Roads help to bring economic development into a county.

The national broadband plan is particularly positive for Wexford as are the developments Deputy Wallace mentioned such as the courthouse and so on.

We should invest more in Rosslare port. We are somewhat constrained by EU state aid rules and by the port being attached to Irish Rail. Part of the response to Brexit could be a recognition that if Britain continues on its current course, a transition fund will be needed. We will need to look at facilities like Rosslare Port, the Port of Cork and potentially Knock Airport and say that we will need special investment, with the support of the EU, in direct links between the island of Ireland and the Continent of Europe. Perhaps there is an opportunity there which should be pursued.