"My kids keep me going in the daytime"
"There are a lot of people who want to set up their own businesses, and they are really dependent on this globalisation fund to help them out. A lot of the people who have left Dell would not know where to turn," says Nenagh man Seamus Morris
SEAMUS MORRIS, Nenagh
AFTER more than 12 years in Dell, 37-year-old Seamus Morris found himself thrown on the scrapheap last June - and he admits like many others, he was "shellshocked".
Working in what you thought was a secure job for a long period of time, and entering a fiercely competitive jobs market will do that to you.
Seamus, who hails from Co Tipperary, admits he applied for a large number of jobs, but with no joy - and it is his work with the Dell
Redundancy Workers Association which keeps him going.
Hundreds of hacks have asked the same question of what Dell was like in its dying manufacturing days in Raheen, but it still does not make the answers any less emotive.
"There was not any real shock until workers were actually leaving, then when people went out into the real world, and found out what the economy held for them, that made things worse. It's a very limited amount of people who have gotten jobs since June," Seamus said.
He candidly admits that he applied for dozens of jobs, but "unfortunately the jobs are not there. There are no jobs being created which makes it worse."
When one is unemployed, it is easy to get stuck into a routine - and essentially give up on applying for positions.
This is a trap Seamus feels he has, at least partially, fallen in to.
"You just get into a routine. I have four kids so they keep me going in the daytime," he says.
One of the major things affecting the thousands of people losing their jobs is how they will pay for their home. Seamus is no different.
"I don't think there is anyone in the country who doesn't have a mortgage these days," he laughs.
But on a serious note, Seamus says if it was not for the €23m European Globalisation Fund, he feels many former Dell workers would have lost hope a long time ago.
"There are a lot of people who want to set up their own businesses, and they are really dependent on this globalisation fund to help them out. A lot of the people who have left Dell would not know where to turn," he said.
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