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"I want to keep myself motivated"
"It was sad leaving. You walked into the factory at the end, and it was just a wide open space. There were builders in there knocking down the lines, and stripping everything out. It was hard," says Nadine Smyth
NADINE SMYTH,
Ballynanty
NADINE Smyth, 26, is the first person anyone wanting to join the Dell Redundancy Workers Association sees.
Now the receptionist with the Dell Redundancy Workers Group, a positive Nadine had worked in a variety of positions in Dell for the last six years until she was let go just before Christmas - the last tranche of workers to leave the huge plant in Raheen.
As Nadine remained with the Texan computer giant from when the job cut announcement was made, right to the bitter end, she saw the factory stripped before her eyes.
"What upset me was that I had made so many friends there over the years - friends that I will probably never meet again. It was sad leaving. You walked into the factory at the end, and it was just a wide open space. There were builders in there knocking down the lines, and stripping everything out. It was hard," she recalled.
While she was at Dell, Nadine gained qualifications in administration. Now, she wants to return to college, and study travel and tourism in a bid to work as a passenger service agent.
But, with the usual collection of debts - the mortgage, the car loan, the bank loan, and the credit union, as well as a penchant for shopping - Nadine is reliant on the European Globalisation Fund to service this.
"I want to keep myself motivated, keep myself going. I have paid €2,000 for my course, so I hope to get something back from that because I am taking the initiative," she said.
As the person responsible for administering the Dell Redundancy Workers Association office, Nadine confirmed the number of people seeking membership has spiralled to more than 1,000 now.
She smiled: "I have been taking all the membership details, keeping everything on side, making sure everyone's details is on file. Every day, people have been pouring through the door - we must have 1,000 members now. It is so important people come here - at the end of the day, not to sound greedy, but the European Globalisation Fund is our money. Not FAS money, not anybody else's money."
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Weather for Limerick
Tuesday 07 February 2012
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