HARD TIMES IN THE COMMUTER BELT: By his own admission, Clive Lumley has only ever seen good times. A chartered accountant, he rose through the ranks of a property development firm in Meath, eventually becoming its financial director. The money rolled in, the business expanded and the only way was up. Then the property market crash-landed.

"I suddenly found myself at home, with no job and nothing to do," the 36-year-old says. "The blow to the ego was probably the biggest thing."

"You see your wife heading off to work in the morning. The weeks begin to feel very long. What was worse was because I was in a senior position, there was nothing available on the jobs market."...

 ...The full scale of job losses across Co Meath is beginning to emerge as official figures show its towns are bearing the brunt of some of the fastest rising dole queues across the entire State. Live register figures, for example, have jumped by 122 per cent in Trim, 111 per cent in Kells and 94 per cent in Navan.....

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From The Irish Times