Claims Tourism Will Be The Main Driver Of Economic Growth In East Clare

Photo © Pat Flynn

It’s claimed tourism will be the main driver of economic growth in East Clare in the future.

New figures from the CSO show a 17% drop in the number of people claiming some form of unemployment benefit in the past year, with areas relying heavily on the tourist trade seeing the largest decline in dole queues.

Clare FM’s Ben Sweeney Reports:

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It’s claimed tourism will be the main driver of economy growth in East Clare in the future.

New figures from the CSO show a 17% drop in the number of people claiming some form of unemployment benefit in the past year, with areas relying heavily on the tourist trade seeing the largest decline in dole queues.

There are now 5,093 people on the Live Register in Clare, a drop of 17% on this time last year.

Ennis has seen the biggest reduction in dole queues in that time, with 611 fewer people signing on in May compared to the same period last year.

In North Clare there has been a 13% drop in the level of unemployment and in East and West Clare, a 10% drop.

Kilrush Fine Gael Councillor Gabriel Keating is welcoming the figures but he says more work is needed.

There’s also been a fall in the number of people on the live register in the past month, with North Clare seeing the largest jump in numbers, which is typical of this time of year, and East Clare seeing the smallest numbers signing off.

Killaloe Fianna Fáil Councillor Tony O’Brien has pointed to the ongoing effort to boost tourism in the east of the county, saying he expects it to pay off in the future.

There has been criticism in the past by some politicians about the over-reliance on tourism in this county, but Councillor O’Brien believes it’s key to boosting the local economy there.