58,000 people await welfare payments in claims backlog

THE number of unemployed people being left in financial despair as they wait for welfare payments has spiralled to 58,000 – pushing the real jobless total to almost half a million.

Claims are taking up to three months to be processed, with Cork, Galway and Dublin showing the most worrying increases in the backlog.

Pending applications for jobseeker’s benefit or allowance in Cork total 3,303, with 2,223 outstanding in Limerick, 3,324 in Galway and more than 14,000 in Dublin.