Tánaiste: Unemployment biggest challenge for Government
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said today that unemployment is now the single biggest challenge facing the country.
New figures show almost 450,000 people out of work, an increase of 4,500 on this time last year.
It is also thought a drop in the number of under-25s drawing the dole is a sign of mass emigration from the country.
The Tánaiste has insisted that the Government has been acting in dealing with joblessness, however.
"The last Government was indifferent to the problem of unemployment, and was indifferent to the necessity to create jobs in this country and that is why we have such a high level of unemployment in this country," he said.
