A support centre for the unemployed in Navan, Co Meath, has seen a noticeable increase in visitors and callers since the closure of Tara mines and the temporary lay-offs of 600 workers.
The Navan Job Club on Flower Hill is a FÁS initiative managed by the North Meath Community Development Association (NMCDA) and the Trim Initiative on Development and Enterprise (TIDE).
While Tara's parent company, Outokumpu, has assured those who lost their jobs that the mine will re-open and that the lay-offs are not permanent, there is some uncertainty about when operations will resume.
This, according to Ms Marina Cunningham of the NMCDA, has left many in limbo, unable to seek alternative employment for fear of losing their work at Tara mines permanently.
"I suppose January has been one of the busiest months. We have experienced a huge rise in callers," she says.
The job club has outreach centres in Kells and Trim and provides what Ms Cunningham describes as "confidence boosting" services for the long-term unemployed.
"We are dealing with people who have been out of the workforce for a good number of years, a lot of them married women. A lot of women would have the opinion that they haven't got the skills, but they have been managing a home and managing a budget - they have managerial experience. It's very much a way of building up their confidence."
This, of course, applies to anyone who has been out of the workforce and who wants to refresh their skills or gain new ones.
The centre runs a five-week programme to help people to return to the workforce. It offers help in putting a CV and job applications together, as well as helping people to identify in advertisements the kind of jobs to which they may be best suited. Mock interviews form part of the course and some computer training is also offered.
Employers have begun to use the job club as a way of filling vacancies, Ms Cunningham said.
Unemployment in Co Meath is lower than in most counties, according to the Irish National Organisation for the Unemployed (INOU). While figures this week show an annual increase of more than 21 per cent in the numbers signing on, the figures may not be huge in terms of actual numbers, a spokesman said.
Neighbouring Louth, however, has been badly affected by job losses in the past year, he said. "Some areas which did quite well in the past number of years are starting to show the effects in the Live Register figures."
Large-scale job losses will be strong issues in Meath and other areas during the general election campaign, he predicted.
The Live Register figures, which, the INOU emphasises, are not an accurate measure of unemployment, show an additional 438 people signing on in Co Meath in the year to November 2001.
It is understood that the lay-offs at Tara mines are not reflected in this increase. The Live Register area analysis for December, due tomorrow, may show an increase reflecting those job losses.
The job club in Navan is at 29 Flower Hill and is open to callers during office hours. Telephone 046-78968.