Employees at Tara Mines knew Christmas was coming when they heard the bad news about the company.
Trouble at the mines has become almost as traditional at this time of the year as the appearance of the first decorations in the shops. And although the latest situation was the starkest yet, familiarity with crisis meant staff took the announcement yesterday with a mixture of fatalism and shock.
There was some anger that the axe fell so soon after employees accepted painful wage cuts and increased productivity to avert a previous threat of closure. But there was acceptance of the Finnish management's difficulties in the face of a collapse in global zinc prices, even if few shared the company's optimism about the likely duration of the closure.
Only last week, the Meath Chronicle reported the celebrations of 25 years' full-scale operation at Tara. The company's managing director, Mr Eero Laatio, told guests at the function that the mines had "a great potential and a great future". But yesterday Mr Laatio was explaining that the lowest prices since 1977 had left the company in a temporarily unsustainable situation.
"We have a problem, so it must be Christmas," said SIPTU shop steward Mr Tom Reilly, as workers absorbed the news. There were good reasons why things always came to a head at this time, he added, but the latest crisis had been brewing all year: "The price of zinc has been dropping fast since January, and September 11th didn't do us any favours either." The scheduled three-month closure was "optimistic", he thought, "because there's no indication of any pick-up".
His union colleague, Mr Dick McGlew, agreed: "They're throwing up three months, and hopefully they're right. But when we ask them if it could be just as easily 12 months, they're not too reassuring."
He added: "We knew things weren't great, but it's a sudden jolt coming up to Christmas. I thought it might struggle on into the new year, but they're not giving it that chance. Nobody could predict the price slump was going to be as bad."
In the company car park, Mr Kevin Brennan was discussing the news with Mr Gene Fagan, a friend who joined at the same time 19 years ago. "We're in a state of shock about it. We've been hearing it every Christmas, but nobody wanted to face it, I suppose", he said.
A sign on the sports and social club's notice board celebrated the company team's defeat of Navan Carpets in the inter-firm Gaelic football league. But until yesterday there was no contest for the title of Navan's most important employer. The mines are worth an estimated £3 million a week to the local economy, and many local businesses, from shops to bed-and-breakfasts, will share the pain of the closure.
The president of Navan Chamber of Commerce, Mr Oliver Shanley, was determinedly optimistic, however, arguing that with traditionally high employment and its designation for city status, Navan could ride out the crisis.
With Government help, some of those laid off could be "absorbed" by the local industry park, and Tara management could soon be open again and proceeding with the development of the mines it had already promised.
