Opposition must shine in new gloom

WITH job losses running at almost 500 every week in 2002, the latest unemployment statistics suggest we should expect a gloomy start to 2003.

Sadly, for thousands of workers it promises to be the year of the hair shirt as the impact of the economic downturn on Ireland's 186,000 small businesses will have dire consequences for employment prospects.

Confirming the scale of the problem, the figures show redundancies up 28% on the previous year. The Dublin region was hit hardest, suffering more than half the country's job losses.