The six MLAs in West Tyrone have been called on to “step up to the mark” and tackle the unemployment “devastation” in Strabane.
SDLP Sperrin election candidate Patrick Leonard.
The call comes from Sperrin SDLP election candidate Patrick Leonard who said the latest employment figures showed young people across the Strabane district were continuing to suffer as a result of the economic downturn.
Mr Leonard said despite the latest figures showing unemployment had dropped across the North by 600 last month, Strabane and Derry continued to have the top two highest rates of people of of work.
He added: “Strabane is the only district to have any increase in the number of benefit claimants over the past year.
“We now have a total of 1,932 claimants with a 0.5 per cent rise each year. This must not continue to define us. It is time for the six MLAs to step up to the mark and take a cross-party approach to tackling this devastation.
“Our young people deserve so much better and our MLAs have a duty to deliver and must now act to do so.
“The recovery in Northern Ireland continues to be outpaced by that in Britain. The unemployment rate currently stands at 7.4% in Northern Ireland, a 0.1% increase on the local figures from October-December 2013 and a full 0.3% higher than Scotland and Wales.
“The figure is even bleaker for our young people with unemployment among 18-24 year olds sitting at an intolerably high 23.2%.
“This will only further deflate those queuing outside job centres across the region.
“I am calling on the six West Tyrone MLA’s, Ross Hussey, Barry McElduff, Michaela Boyle, Declan McAleer and our own MLA Joe Byrne to commit themselves to dealing with this problem and offer our young people hope in this very bleak landscape.”
Mr Leonard concluded: “We must restore hope and fuel ambition in the local economy and the jobs market. That will be the line against which we will be judged and we must not be found wanting.”
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