Castleisland ‘forgotten’ when it comes to new jobs

CASTLEISLAND is Kerry’s “forgotten town” because its jobless figures are not known officially, local Fine Gael councillor Bobby O’Connell has claimed.

Because the numbers of unemployed people in Castleisland are included in the Tralee figures, he said the possibility of attracting new investment to Castleisland is being curtailed.

Mr O’Connell, also a publican, called on the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to publish separate figures for his home town and said the current system was grossly unfair.

He said Castleisland and its hinterland had large numbers of unemployed people and the IDA should be made aware of the statistics so that something could be done to create jobs.

He further claimed no new industrial jobs had been provided in Castleisland for decades largely because live register figures were not available for the area.

“Castleisland is the forgotten town,” he said.

‘There’s an unemployment epidemic, but all the IDA sees is the Tralee figures. I can’t understand why figures can’t be published for Castleisland, as smaller towns in Kerry can get separate figures.”

Mr O’Connell said Castleisland was well located for industrial investment as it was on a network of national primary routes and was close to Kerry Airport.

Meanwhile, there are hopes unemployment may be levelling off in Kerry. The figure for April dropped by 158 and Kerry now has just over 15,400 people on the live register.

It is not known, however, if the people now off the register obtained employment, or emigrated.

With live register figures rising by about 1,000 per month since last September, unemployment is one of the main issues confronting local elections canvassers in Kerry.