Live Register in Waterford falls to lowest level in 7 years – Minister Coffey

Fine Gael Waterford Minister Paudie Coffey has said the live register in Waterford has fallen to its lowest level since December 2008.  Waterford suffered terribly as a result of the economic collapse and we had unemployment hit a peak of over 15,500 people.  This was the legacy of Fianna Fail and their economic mismanagement that destroyed families across Waterford City and County.

“When this Fine Gael led government were elected to govern 4.5 years ago, unemployment was still skyrocketing, there was no investment and people had to pay the economic and social price for this complete incompetence.  Since then we focussed on job creation measures that have been proven to work.  There are over 125,000 more people at work now then there was in 2011.

“The live register has fallen to below 11,000 people in Waterford for the first time in 7 years.  While this figure is still too high; it is progress in the right direction and it can only be continued by job friendly policies being implement by a government that has the plans and focus to deliver them.

“If Fine Gael are returned to government in early 2016, we are committed to having full-employment in Ireland by 2018 and we will abolish the Universal Social Charge entirely by 2021.  We have already cut income taxes and the USC in the last number of years and removed 700,000 people from paying the USC to date.

“After 4.5 years in opposition Fianna Fail have not put forward a Jobs Policy; after bringing Waterford to the brink of ruin that saw thousands of people lose their jobs it is quite clear Fianna Fail simply can’t be trusted to run the National Economy again.

“It is imperative that we continue to implement sustainable policies that create jobs so that we can pay for the vital services that we all want to see.  Fine Gael is committed to a sustainable economic model that will not see us return to boom and bust.”

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