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Unemployment dropped by 1.5 percent last month
Galway Bay fm newsroom – Unemployment is continuing to drop in parts of Galway.
Across the city and county, unemployment fell by 324 last month, compared to October, a decrease of 1 and a half percent.
There are now 20 thousand people out of work in Galway.
The biggest drop in people on social welfare was in the city where 338 people came off the Live Register.
There are now just over 9 thousand 9 hundred people out of work in the city.
In Loughrea there was also a decrease in unemployment in November with 52 less people signing on.
The unemployment figure for Loughrea is now just under 2 thousand 200.
Tuam was another area which saw a drop in its jobless figure last month, with 33 coming off the Live Register.
There are now just under three thousand people out of work in Tuam.
There was a slight drop of 14 in unemployment in Gort last month, leaving the figure there at just under 14 hundred.
Not all areas experienced drops in unemployment in November however.
Clifden saw its jobless figure rise by more than a hundred.
There are now just over 11 hundred people out of work in Clifden.
In Ballinasloe, just one extra person joined the Live Register last month, bringing the figure there to just over 2 thousand 3 hundred people out of work.
While Galway saw a 1.5 percent decrease in unemployment last month, compared to October, overall the year on year difference is a drop of more than 5 percent.
There are 20 thousand people out of work in Galway now, compared to almost 22 thousand this time last year.
The death has occurred of the former Bishop of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora Martin Drennan, six years after he announced his retirement on health grounds. He was aged 78.
The Galway Diocesan Office confirmed the death this (Saturday) afternoon of the Bishop and Apostolic Administrator Emeritus, who oversaw the Diocese for eleven years.
Born on January 2, 1944 in Piltown, County Kilkenny, he studied for the priesthood at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, from where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1968. His brother Michael is also a priest.
Following his ordination, he continued his studies in Rome where he was awarded a Licentiate in both sacred theology and sacred scripture. He returned to Rome in 1980 to become spiritual director at the Pontifical Irish College for the next five years.
He became a lecturer in sacred scripture at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, where he continued to teach until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin in 1997 with responsibility for East Wicklow and South Dublin.
Following the retirement of Bishop James McLoughlin, Bishop Drennan was appointed Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and Apostolic Administrator of Kilfenora and he was installed on July 3, 2005 in Galway Cathedral.
Outgoing Cllr Terry O’Flaherty (Ind) is on course to retain her City Council seat – and top the poll in City East.
With 33% of the boxes tallied, Cllr O’Flaherty is polling strongly, particularly in Renmore.
Michael John Crowe is ahead of his running mate Alan Cheevers for the Fianna Fáil vote, according to the early figures, although that could change when Doughiska and Roscam boxes are opened.
The Green Party’s Claire Hillery is on about 7%, with Fine Gael on 10% and Sinn Fein on 5%.
The opening of boxes for the local elections began at 9am this morning in Leisureland when the tallymen (and women) kicked into gear.
As regards the Galway County Council elections, the smaller areas are being opened first which means that the four-seater Connemara North boxes will be first in the pecking order.
It will be followed by Gort-Kinvara (5 seats), Connemara South (5 seats), Athenry-Oranmore (7 seats), Ballinasloe (6 seats), Loughrea (5 seats) and finally Tuam (7 seats).
The boxes in these areas will be opened and tallied in that particular order before being transferred to the Galway Lawn Tennis Club on Threadneedle Road where the counting will commence around mid-morning.
That is when the fun will really begin – although the tallies should give a good indication as to where most of the seats are destined.
As regards the city, the Galway City East boxes were opened first, followed by Galway City Central and finally Galway City West. These votes will be transferred to the Westside Centre by around 11am for counting.
There are 39 seats on Galway County Council to be filled with 18 on Galway City Council. The City Council count is expected to conclude on Saturday night but the County Council count – with seven electoral areas to be filled – could well go into Monday.
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