Labour: Ireland first in and last out of recession

IRELAND is “the first in and last out of recession” the Labour Party claimed as figures showed almost 6,000 people joined the Live Register in January – the biggest rise since August.

With unemployment reaching 434,700 – the highest rate since 1995 – Labour leader Eamon Gilmore told the Taoiseach to stop pretending we are an “unwitting victim of some global forces” because “this is a very Irish recession”.

One in three men aged between 21 and 24 are on the dole, 60,000 have emigrated and 319 people are losing their jobs every day.