The number of people accessing social welfare supports in Clare has gone up for the fourth month in a row.
At the end of December, more than 100 additional people joined dole queues across the county.
At the end of December, a total of 4,752 people were claiming some form of unemployment benefit in Clare, which marks an increase of just 2% or 102 people from November’s total.
Almost half of recipients presented to the social welfare office in Ennis, which dished out payments to 2,244 people last month.
Ennistymon was the next busiest centre in the county, with almost 1,200 at the dole queues, while a further 740 presented in Kilrush, as well as 570 in Tulla.
December ultimately marks the fourth month in succession where the amount of people availing of social welfare supports here has increased.
Since September, the category to see the greatest uptick were Females aged over 25, with the number of people claiming unemployment benefit in this group rising by 8%.
