Fianna Fail TD James Browne has expressed serious concern at the latest unemployment figures for the South East with an extra 2,600 people without a job in the third quarter of the year.
This latest unemployment rate of 8.6% is 2.6% higher than the National average and the highest of any region in the Country.
Deputy Brown says the situation needs a strong and targeted response from the Government.
He says they also need to look at where the jobs are being lost and to take immediate steps to get people back in to employment.