300 a day made redundant last year

New figures from the Department of Enterprise show that 77,000 people were made redundant last year.

That translates to over 300 lay-offs a day.

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprise association (ISME) wants the Government to extend the Employment Subsidy Scheme to include businesses with less than 10 workers.

The association warned that further job losses were imminent, unless the Government immediately implemented a national employment plan as part of a National Enterprise Strategy to address the ongoing crisis.

“77,001 people were made redundant in the last 12 months, the highest annual figure ever recorded, a 90% increase on the previous year," ISME Chief Executive Mark Fielding said.

Nearly half (47%) of the redundancies were in construction and manufacturing, while 38% of job losses were in the services sector.

“Nobody in authority seems to realise the extent of the problem in indigenous businesses and in small and micro businesses in particular," Fielding said.

“If the economy is to grow it can only be done by supporting the wealth creators, through the introduction and implementation of a National Enterprise Strategy.

"Any further delays will only exacerbate a problem that continues to deteriorate on a daily basis."