‘It was like splitting up a family’

DEIRDRE MCCORMACK comes to the phone as if she’s been told next week’s winning Lotto numbers are being read out at the other end.

She is warm, enthusiastic and engaging, it’s second nature to her. For 29 years she was one of the voices customers heard when they rang Navan Carpets. On a grim day in July last year, the carpet firm went into liquidation and 200 people lost their jobs. The phones stopped ringing and it’s been too quiet for Deirdre since. “We were gutted,” the 48-year-old mother of seven recalls. “Then we were on a high because we were meeting up all the time and there was great camaraderie. Then you sink into reality. We will never get something to replace it. It was like a family.”

Six months later, Deirdre hasn’t had any luck getting another job locally and is resigned to searching in Dublin, although becoming a commuter does not greatly appeal to her. “I’m new at this job search business. It’s a bit nerve-wrecking. But the new year is a new start.”