Government has fallen far short of its job-creation target, says Kerry TD Ferris

In the Irish Examiner (January 15), Arthur Spring, Labour TD for Kerry North and West Limerick, criticised me for mentioning the slow rate of recovery in the jobs market in Kerry, because I highlighted the rise in live-register figures for the last three months of 2014.

The Tánaiste, Joan Burton, regularly cites even small decreases in the live-register figures as a cause for government self-congratulation. Deputy Spring objects, however, when an elected representative mentions an increase in unemployment in Kerry for three months in a row.

The Labour Party has become a willing tail to be wagged by the Fine Gael dog, and its much-promised jobs plan has meant little, except to force people into job schemes.