Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 489: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the number of persons on the live register in Dublin Mid-West has increased by more than a quarter in the past 12 months and now stands at approximately 4,500; if she will take steps to address the severe problem of unemployment in the constituency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27000/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The number of persons on the live register in Dublin Mid-West has increased by over 26% in the last twelve months compared to an increase of 31% in the State overall. The Live Register is not a measure of unemployment as it includes part-time, seasonal and casual workers who might be signing on from time to time.

Employment/unemployment is measured by the Quarterly National Household Survey, collated and published by the CSO. The number of persons in employment in the Dublin region is 627,500 in Quarter 1, 2008 (Dec-Feb 08). Employment has increased in the Dublin region by 13,300 with unemployment decreasing by 700 in the year.

Dublin is the Gateway centre of the East Region and continues to grow in terms of foreign direct investment across a range of sectors. Dublin West continues to be actively marketed by IDA Ireland to potential investors and is well equipped to compete with other areas for potential foreign direct investment, with a third level institute (Tallaght Institute of Technology) and good infrastructural facilities at Citywest and Grangecastle.

The development of the Grangecastle Business Park by the Council and IDA Ireland, combined with the development of the City West Business Park (which includes the National Digital Park) is an attractive location for high technology state of the art projects, both overseas and indigenous.

Wyeth/American Homecare Products is located in the business park with the world's largest integrated biotechnology facility on the site. Wyeth announced earlier this year that it is investing a further €24 million in the creation of additional dedicated R&D and process development facilities at its Grangecastle Campus. Also, Microsoft Corporation has announced that it will locate its 51,000sq metres state-of-the-art data centre in Grange Castle Business Park.

Enterprise Ireland has approved support for the development of Community Enterprise Centres at Neilstown and Bawnogue in the Clondalkin area and Bolbrook, Brookfield and Killinarden in Tallaght totalling over €3.12m. The expansion to the Neilstown Enterprise Centre has also been approved with a grant of €300,000.

Enterprise Ireland has also facilitated the establishment of a Network for Community Enterprise Centre Managers in the region. This association will strengthen the networking of the community groups in the development of their enterprise centres.

After 3 months on the live register those who are still unemployed are referred by Department of Social and Family Affairs to FÁS to assist them into training or employment.

FÁS is working through its own Employment Service and with the Local Employment Service provided by Area Based Partnerships to provide increased interviewing and caseload management capacity to respond to the increased numbers on the Live Register.

The range of integrated support services provided by FÁS also involves information sessions, skills analysis, training/retraining courses and job placement. These services will be available for those who become redundant because of company restructuring or closures.

FÁS is also implementing a range of short and medium term actions for those affected by the increase in unemployment and the construction slowdown such as:

putting in place training to upskill construction workers in relation to emerging needs

business training and mentoring for workers from larger enterprises entering self-employment

developing measures to ensure continuity in the apprenticeship system

promoting access for mobile workers to construction jobs elsewhere in the EU, including the UK.

In the delivery of these services, FÁS liaises with other relevant agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, and the Department of Social and Family Affairs.