Five a day made redundant in Westmeath in first six months of year

Redundancies in the first six months of this year in Westmeath are up 170% on the same period last year, latest figures have revealed.Some 820 people were made redundant in the county in the first six months of this year, just under five per day. It's up from 303 in the same period last year.In Roscommon, redundancies from January to July this year were 329, compared to 197 last year, a rise of 67%, while in Offaly, the figures jumped from 236 to 573 (an increase of 143%)ISME, the Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association, has described the figures as 'dismal', calling on the Government to introduce a National Employment Task Force to stop the haemorrhaging of jobs.The figures, announced by the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment this week reveal there have been 49,009 redundancies to date.This represents an increase of 142% on the same period last year and almost 10,000 more job losses than in the whole of 2008. 38% of job losses were in the services sector and females now account for 31% of redundancies, as job losses continue to be spread throughout the whole economy."The latest figures confirm our worst fears on job losses which will take more than a generation to reverse.The severity of the problem merits a serious response from a Government 'en vacances', and it is absolutely essential that they take immediate steps to both save and create jobs, unfortunately, as the Government holidays, the dole queues lengthen," according to ISME Chief Executive, Mark Fielding.The Association called for the introduction of a National Employment Task Force consisting of the Government, industry leaders including SME representatives, the heads of relevant State Agencies, employee representatives and the opposition.The Task Force should be mandated to report within weeks with their recommendations fast tracked for implementation.