Our New Lives: Have we survived the move to Zoom and doing business online?

Joyce Fegan talks to workers and business owners to find out how they have coped with the changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, from working from home to the many businesses who have had to adapt to trading online

Gary Baugh with his wife Stephanie Prendergast and their 11-month-old daughter Pearline at home in Greystones. "I was not going to take any chances with a young baby, " says Gary. Photo: Moya Nolan

"Irish unemployment rate at 13-year low of 4.8%," read the headlines in January 2020. Economists predicted another strong year of employment growth.

There was "no indication that the employment boom is set to slow in 2020,” announced one economist. The only possible challenger to our economic wellbeing was Brexit and failed trade negotiations as well as a lack of workers in areas such as healthcare.