MELINDA Berry thought they were "set for life" when her husband, Dave, got a job in Semperit's Ballyfermot plant some seven years ago.
The news that this wasn't the case was just beginning to sink in on the Berrys as well as the rest of the plant's 650 workforce yesterday.
Literally overnight, the workers have been stripped of the security of the pay and favourable conditions which had made them the envy of the area.
Melinda (26) and Dave (29) from Clondalkin have two young children, a mortgage, a car and a new suite of furniture which has yet to be paid off. They will start looking for jobs immediately, but know that they are unlikely to secure a position as well paid as those in Semperit, where the basic weekly wage for shift workers was around £360.
They console themselves that, being young, their chances of employment are better than the plant's older workers. Few of the workers have qualifications beyond the highly specialist skills of tyre manufacturing.
The moods of workers clocking off yesterday's day shift was one of muted despair.
Even before yesterday's emergency meeting about the possibility of finding a buyer for the plant, workers had been told that it would close on December 6th.
Brian Connor (45), who lives near the plant, said the news of the closure was "like getting your teeth knocked out of you". Brian who had "reared three grown up children" during his 28 years in Semperit, was further depressed.
His 22 year old son, Mark, who also works there, took out a mortgage a year ago. "He doesn't know if he will be able to pay for it or if he's going to have to sell his house," said Mr Connor.
At the shops in Ballyfermot, news of the job losses was on everyone's lips. "The community is in shock," said Mr Declan Baird from the Ballyfermot Action Service for Employment (BASE) which gives advice and help on welfare rights and job placement.
Whole generations of families will be devastated by this. There is a huge feeling of despair. I don't think there's one person in Ballyfermot who doesn't know someone who has worked for or did work for Semperit. It was the kind of big industry that gave a community hope because the people saw it as something their children or husbands or wives could aim for," he said.
A local independent councillor, Mr Michael Conaghan, said the community was angry about the insensitive manner in which most workers learned about the closure. He said the people would not accept the closure was definite and would lobby to find a solution to the crisis.
"They are turning resentful, not only at the manner of the announcement, but also the fact that the Government didn't work swiftly enough to try to save the plant," he said.
It's ironic that Ireland has the presidency of the European Union and a German company can announce that it is closing a plant in Ballyfermot. The EU is going nowhere if it is creating unemployment in Ballyfermot to create jobs in Slovakia."
At the plant yesterday, workers continued preparing and moulding the rubber.
The air in the place has been totally dead all day," said one worker. "The whole atmosphere has gone out of it."
A large notice board at the plant entrance displayed the number of tyres made in the 24 hours up to 8 a.m. yesterday, following Wednesday night's closure announcement.
On Wednesday, 11,500 tyres were produced - just 100 short of the daily target figure. Yesterday's total was only 9,000. "Everybody was too shocked to work. They just spent the night after the announcement talking about it," said one worker.
Workers said that they had been told a week ago by management there was light at the end of the tunnel. "Unfortunately, they didn't tell us it was an approaching train," said one worker.