SINN Féin councillors in Kerry are calling on representatives from Enterprise Ireland and the IDA to attend its next council meeting to discuss the need for  job creation for the county.

The motion to be tabled by Cllr Robert Beasley at Monday’s meeting of Kerry County Council.

“Of the 46 jobs that were advertised in the Tralee area since August 21 on Jobsireland.ie, 35 were made up of internships (14), CE schemes (12), or part time jobs (6),” said Sinn Féin council group leader in Kerry Cllr Toiréasa Ferris.

“Of the 11 real jobs advertised, three were minimum wage, one had a salary of €30k, one of €18k and others didn’t specify,” she said.

Cllr Ferris was highly critical of the Gateway scheme and how it applied to Kerry County Council.

“Gateway is advertised as offering ‘short term work and training opportunities’ for long term unemployed and selection for the scheme is supposed to be random,” Cllr Ferris continued.

“If this were true then why, of the 35 placements in Kerry County Council, are all participants male and engaged in outdoor operations only.”

“Gateway, like JobBridge should be scrapped and replaced with a meaningful internship programme that offers real and viable job opportunities to people,” said the Sinn Fein councillor.