Census shows Tralee is job blackspot

C.S.O IDENTIFY THE TOWN AS ONE OF 79 UNEMPLOYMENT BLACKSPOTS IN THE STATE

CENSUS figures have revealed that Tralee town is one of Ireland’s worst unemployment blackspots.

Newly published 2016 Census results issued by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) identified the Tralee Urban Electoral Division as one of 79 unemployment blackspots that exists across the country.

According to the CSO a ‘blackspot’ refers to an area with at least 200 people in the labour force where the unemployment rate is 27 per cent or higher.

Ireland is currently divided into 3,440 separate Electoral Divisions. The Tralee Urban Division – which stretches roughly from the Mitchels in the east to Balloonagh in the west and from the North Circular Road to the Dan Spring road to the south of the town – is the only blackspot identified in Kerry.

According to the Census Figures the unemployment rate in the Tralee Urban area stands at 27.2 per cent compared with an average of just 12.4 per cent across the rest of the county.

Kerry’s average unemployment rate has fallen from 19.5 per cent in 2011.

The Division was listed in 72nd place on the list of 79 unemployment blackspots identified by the CSO.

By far the worst affected counties when it comes to unemployment were Limerick and Waterford which are home to 18 and nine blackspots respectively. Eight of the top ten blackspots – with unemployment rates of between 38 and 58 per cent – were in Limerick city.

Sinn Féin Ireland South MEP Liadh Ní Riada said the figures “expose the Dublin-centric” policies of Fine Gael as more than half (43) of the unemployment blackspots are located in the Ireland South constituency.