"It's a pity. We're losing jobs over something we've no control over," Mr John Murray said. He runs The Men's Shop in Arklow's main street. "The closure is going to have a very negative effect on business here. A lot of people will be embarrassed going down to the dole after being so long in work."
During the long lean years of the 1980s and early 1990s, Irish Fertiliser Industries was the mainstay of Arklow, employing almost 1,200 at its peak. That has now been trimmed down to 200, and Quality Ceram has become the largest local employer, with 250 people.
Nevertheless, IFI is very much an institution. So much so that local TDs and councillors - Mr Dick Roche of Fianna Fail and Ms Liz McManus of Labour - put a joint motion to suspend standing orders at yesterday's meeting of the county council to discuss the crisis. The council subsequently instructed its chairman, Mr Pat Doyle of Fianna Fail, to try to convene a meeting of all parties to the Iarnrod Eireann dispute to seek a resolution.
"This is a disaster for Arklow," Ms McManus said afterwards. "It's the biggest commercial ratepayer in Co Wicklow and the dispute poses dangers for the future of the IFI plant.
"The fertiliser business is tough enough without lay-offs like this happening to us," SIPTU shop steward Mr Tim Thornton said.
Most of his colleagues had left to meet SIPTU railway shop stewards at Kent station in Cork yesterday. Married with three children, Mr Thornton said he would manage, "but I know some people who would be badly affected, with high mortgages and loan repayments".
He said the company had recently spent over £13 million on a new plant "and we just don't need lay-offs. The factory management has made every effort to retain people and the lay-offs are a last resort. We'll be appealing to SIPTU members in Cork to support SIPTU members in Arklow".
However, Mr Thornton and his fellow workers are reluctant to criticise participants in the rail dispute, or apportion blame. Worker director Mr Tom Hickson, an instrumentation technician, points out IFI negotiated its own annualised hours agreement just three years ago. "We understand what they are going through because we have been there. But they have to talk and a mechanism has to be found to do that.
"It's not just our jobs that are on the line but some of their jobs as well, if we close down."
The plant manager, Mr Bill Flood, is reluctant to comment on the dispute, which has closed his own plant. But he did say the annualised hours agreement negotiated at Arklow was "face to face around the table with employees. You cannot substitute for that".
However he conceded that in a small, tight-knit community such as Arklow it was probably easier to do business than in larger operations.
The plant could be up and running again within two days if supplies resume. Mr Flood said a skeleton crew of 20 to 30 staff would remain. Farmers need have no worries about fertiliser shortages if the rail dispute is protracted. Arklow exports almost a quarter of production and has enough stock to meet demand this season.
Besides, IFI may be the only company manufacturing fertiliser on this island but there are plenty of other companies importing supplies. It is this factor which spells the biggest threat to Arklow jobs if the rail dispute is prolonged.