A Sligo/Leitrim TD says figures for unemployment and those receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment do not take into account the difficulties now being endured by one of the most important sectors in the region, the farming community.
There has been a massive increase in the unemployment in the north west in the past year, going from 3.4% in Donegal in September 2019 to almost 20% last November.
In Leitrim, it went from 2.7% to almost 16% and in Sligo from just over 2% to 15.5%.
Deputy Marian Harkin says the figures do not tell the whole story.
