The midlands also saw a drop in the number of people signing on.
The number of people on the Live Register fell by 3.3% in August, compared with July.
The seasonally adjusted figures released by the Central Statistics Office show 166,100 people were unemployed last month.
The declining trend has also been seen in the midlands, falling from over 11,000 to 10,687.
The highest figure in the region is in Westmeath at just over 4,000, while in Laois there are 3,346 signing on, and 3,325 in Offaly.
Just over 17,300 people benefiting from the EU's Temporary Protection Directive were included in the total, that's down over 720 from July.