Job losses of over 500 in a day will be a sign for many that the economy has turned.
Almost 220 jobs lost at a car components factory, Henniges Elastomers, in Ballina, Co Mayo, and another 260 in the refrigerated vehicle firm, ThermoKing, in Dublin have come as a shock to the hundreds of families affected.
The bad news is likely to keep coming, with further job losses likely over the coming months. For the year as a whole, the IDA is predicting that some 8,000 jobs will be lost at firms it supports. The key is to attract new industry quickly.
The IDA has been saying for some time that significant job losses will be part of our economic development. It is expecting to lose almost all clothing firms - Lowe Alpine closed in Tullamore, Co Offaly, last week.
Other firms which are likely to close and perhaps move operations to lower-cost eastern European countries are engineering and labour-intensive general manufacturing.
Wage inflation was cited yesterday by the managements of both companies as a key cause. Wage inflation has certainly been accelerating. Even under the basic PPF pay agreement, which many companies have in any case exceeded, pay rose by 5.5 per cent last year and will rise by 7.5 per cent this year. That is far higher than in most other EU countries. Yet, according to IDA Ireland, it is not the fundamental reason.
Mayo's Henniges plant is moving to Germany, one of the highest-wage economies in the euro zone. A more fundamental reason is the globalisation of the industry and the fact that Henniges is a fast-growing company which is introducing state-of-the-art manufacturing to its German factories. That equipment would not be as labour intensive as the factory in Ballina, in operation for 11 years.
The company was taken over by US firm Gencorp, which has been growing quickly by acquisition and has thus changed its strategy.
ThermoKing's announcement was part of a worldwide restructuring programme. It is closing its plant in Dublin and concentrating all operations in Galway where 600 jobs will remain.
In many ways the closure in Ballina is more serious. There are hopes that the workers in ThermoKing will simply be able to transfer to another firm. Observers point to the large numbers of recruitment consultants who moved in after the Motorola job loss announcements in December. There are no firm figures yet but it is expected that most employees will find alternatives quickly.
That is far less likely in Ballina. The IDA has attracted other firms such as Coca-Cola. However, as the president of Ballina Chamber of Commerce, Mr Eddie Melvin, said yesterday, the jobs gained from CocaCola and others did not match those lost by the closure of Asahi and the imminent closure of Bellacorrick power station and Bord na Mona's plant.
He says it is time the area is given priority on a continuous basis and not just when an existing employer closes.
The IDA, for its part, is insisting that a replacement industry will be found - the only question is when. The danger is that if it takes too long the labour force will have moved in search of work and this would make it impossible to attract a new firm.
The IDA has a different agenda in the midlands, which it has been targeting for a number of years. Tullamore, Mullingar and Athlone have all seen fairly large jobs announcements and there is optimism that many of Lowe Alpine's 200 employees will find alternative work.