Sir, - In his letter of October 2nd, Barrie McLatchie made a number of factual errors regarding the Government's position on unemployment. I find it hard to comprehend how anyone can suggest that Fianna Fail believes 75,000 people unemployed and actively seeking work "no longer matter". This statement simply does not tally with our record. When this Government took office, the unemployment rate was 10.7 per cent; it's now 3.8 per cent. Long-term unemployment has fallen from 4.6 per cent to 1.5 per cent. In the past three years 110,000 people have left the live register. There are 290,000 more people at work and even our most ardent critics cannot refute these figures.
These record statistics are a result of this Fianna Fail-led Government's economic and social strategy of focusing on getting people back to work by investing in employment and education.
The point the Taoiseach was making in his Kilkenny speech was that, while economists have long argued about how exactly to define when an economy has reached full employment, whatever the definition, fair-minded people will acknowledge that nationally we are now close to that goal. He went on to say that although there are still pockets of high unemployment that must be tackled, even people from the most deprived backgrounds can now find jobs.
"That is what Fianna Fail is all about. Today, we are coming within reach of a situation, where any able-bodied person will be able to find appropriate training and employment. . ."
Of course, a key challenge for the Government is to address the threat posed to the economy by shortages in the labour market. Recent figures suggest there are simply not enough workers available in the economy to meet demand. This Government is not willing to write off any person as unemployable and we are determined to match skills with employment vacancies. That is why we are investing in new training programmes, in literacy and in outreach programmes with community groups to make sure that the opportunities of our current prosperity are offered to people who have been out of work for a long time.
I want to take this opportunity to assure the Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed that this Government is determined to press on with its ongoing drive to reduce joblessness, particularly for people who have been without a job for a long time. For the three years of this Government, we have been at the forefront of the battle against unemployment and huge strides have been made. Going forward, we are absolutely committed to making certain that every single unemployed person in this country is offered every opportunity and support to get back to work. - Yours, etc.,
Dermot Ahern, TD, Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs, Dail Eireann, Dublin 2.