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Irish unemployment rate falls to 12.3 percent

DUBLIN (Reuters) - The number of people claiming unemployment benefit in Ireland fell for the 19th successive month in January to nudge the unemployment rate down to 12.3 percent from a 2012 high of over 15 percent.

Those claiming jobless benefits fell by 2,300 to a seasonally adjusted 400,700 and down from 450,000 shortly before Ireland sought an EU/IMF bailout three years ago, data from the Central Statistics Office showed.

Economists polled by Reuters last month said they expected jobless benefit beneficiaries, who include part-time, seasonal and casual workers and are not seen as a fully accurate measure of unemployment, to fall to 373,000 by the end of 2014.

(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Conor Humphries)