Ireland's unemployment rate dropped to 10.5 percent last month according to new figures released by the Central Statistic Office (CSO) - the corresponding figure in December was 10.6 percent.
The number of people signing on the Live Register stood at 360,200 on a seasonally adjusted basis.
This was down from 450,000 at the height of the recession.
In unadjusted terms there were 358,672 people on the Live Register in January - this represents an annual decrease of 40,958, or 10.2 percent.
The amount of long term claimants (one year or more) stood at 164,844.
Male long term claimants decreased by 12.8 percent in the year to January - female claimants were down by 1.1 percent.
The overall annual decrease in the number of long term claimants was 9.1 percent.
86,027 people are currently taking part in publicly funded activation schemes.
