The level of seasonally adjusted unemployment is now approaching a quarter of a million for the first time in six years, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO)
Figures for September show one of the largest falls on record, with 9,145 fewer people signing on the live register than last month.
The seasonally adjusted figure now stands at 251,100, which is the lowest level since May 1991 when the figure was 250,000. There are now 249,300 people signing on the live register compared to 278,700 for the same time last year.
There has been a steady fall in the figure since May 1993, when it reached a peak of 296,800. According to the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr Ahern, the main reasons behind the sharp improvement are measures introduced to target welfare fraud and the general buoyancy in the economy.
The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed (INOU) described the fall as "historic", but said that with a booming economy, unemployment should be dropping more significantly. Mr Ahern said the success of back-to-work schemes and second chance education were additional factors in the decreasing trend.
A department spokeswoman did not accept that the recent finding of the Comptroller and Auditor General of falling fraud prosecutions meant that Government measures were not working.
One initiative the department claims has reduced the figures is the practice of interviewing those signing on every six months.
The INOU said the reduction could not be attributed to the "fall-out from the 1996 fraud survey", but simply meant "genuine unemployed people are at last getting some benefits in terms of jobs".
There was a slightly larger decrease in women signing on than men over the last month.
Some 97,600 women are now signing on, down by 5,500 on the last month. In comparison there are now 151,700 men signing on the register, down from 155,300.
However, over the last year there has been a far larger fall in men signing on. While 7,900 less women have signed on over the year, there has been a fall of 22,500 in the number of men joining the register.
The figures also show the number of people under 25 on the register declining rapidly. In September last year there were 208,000 people in this category signing on. This has now dropped to 191,000.
The same trend is found with the seasonally adjusted figure, with a fall of 16,900 between now and last September.
The overall drop for September is the largest ever recorded for that month. The only larger decreases over any month were in October 1996, May 1992 and April 1971.
