The Oak Partnership Service, set up in 1995 to fight unemployment in Offaly and north-west Kildare, passed a landmark on Monday when the Oak Employment Service office officially opened.
Located in Edenderry, Co Offaly, Oak Partnership is part of the area development management programme to help cope with the decline of employment in villages and towns in the area.
Employment was falling because of the cutbacks in Bord na Mona and the ESB, making it one of the country's black-spots, with 2,500 people unemployed out of a population of about 35,000.
According to the Oak manager, Pat Leogue, the unemployment levels were not equally spread, with some villages and towns experiencing levels of up to 25 per cent.
"While the Celtic Tiger has helped, especially on the eastern side of the area with people working in factories on the western suburbs of Dublin, there are still many problems," he says.
"Our greatest problem is the loss of our young people, who tend to move away and stay away, so that is increasing the dependency ratio in the area.
"Our other great problem is that Edenderry is about 20 miles from the nearest large towns, Tullamore and Newbridge, and many of the unemployed are so under-resourced they cannot travel to find work or, indeed, information about work.
"We work closely with FAS, the training agency, which used to come into Edenderry on a clinic basis, operating part-time," he says.
"But since we opened the employment centre FAS has decided to put a full-time placement officer into the town, and this will be of great benefit to the unemployed. Employers are turning more and more away from the newspapers when they are seeking staff and going instead to the agencies like FAS, which is involved in training and placement.
"To date the service has had 800 inquiries, and we believe 50 people have got jobs through the office.
"We work closely with other agencies, too, like the VEC, in arranging training, and one very successful course which was run was a domestic and social care one," he says.
The take-up for that course has been so good they are hoping the people involved will set up their own co-operative.