The town that withstood Cromwell's siege in the 17th century for 23 days has been (metaphorically) sacked in 24 hours by a clinical, corporate decision taken thousands of miles away at the headquarters of a global company with a £6 billion turnover.
There was trepidation in Clonmel yesterday as the commercial implications of the imminent Seagate closure sank in. The 13th century Anglo-Norman town has prospered in recent decades, but this development will bring hard times for many of its citizens.
Hundreds of Seagate employees had their wages paid directly into accounts in banks and building societies, using this arrangement to secure mortgages and loans for cars, holidays and a myriad of household goods.
And the ready cash was spent liberally by the young workers in the bars, boutiques and beauty salons of the town. "Thursday night was always called `Seagate night' in the pubs," comments Caroline Cronin, of Nest, a fashion store.
"There would be huge crowds out. They worked short weeks of 12-hour shifts so they would be out on week nights. A lot of them lived at home, and their money would have been their own. There was a four-year gap between Digital's departure and Seagate's arrival. We hope there won't be as big a gap this time."
It is the parents of many of the young workers who will feel the pinch, predicts Cathy O'Reilly, who runs a busy hairdressing salon called Hairgroup. "The parents will have them back now and have to support them," she pointed out. "They often came straight from school and went into Seagate at 17, and now they're out at 20, with no training.
"In the last few years I've found it practically impossible to get juniors to train, because they went straight from school to Seagate."
The period from now till Christmas will tell how deep the impact is going to be, observes Denis Costello, of the long-established clothing store, Clintons. Clonmel is one of the best trading towns in Co Tipperary, he pointed out - but the removal of the Seagate wage packets will hurt everyone.
"This is nothing new to Clonmel. It's an echo of the Digital shutdown," said Fergal Murray, of Moylan & Murray Motors. In Digital's time he worked in a shop in the town centre, and "every day there was an influx of high-grade, quality splenders". But Digital was in Clonmel for 11 years and had 400 well-paid employees. Seagate stayed only two years.
Without intending disparagement, the Seagate employees have been described as "Yellow Pack" workers - "unqualified, unskilled, quick in, quick out." The Digital wage payout, at about £1 million a week, was probably much smaller than the Seagate wages bill, but it was spread among a much smaller number of higher-paid workers. The Digital worker was a serious spender, Mr Murray observed. "He wasn't going in and taking hire purchase out on his car. He was buying it outright."
Councillor Vera Hewitt commented : "Faceless people, with one blow, have shattered the lives of so many people." She advocated firmly that the site of the factory be handed back to the people of Clonmel - "not sold back, even at a nominal sum."
Mayor Tommy Norris chaired an emergency meeting of the Borough Council yesterday morning. He said it had been marked by "anguish, anger and rancour." He added: "After that we made a decision that we'll sit down with the management of Seagate and hope that we'll convince them to remain in town until a replacement is found."
Parallel to that action, the town's public representatives will be pressing for decentralisation of a Government department to Clonmel, "which we have pursued before," he said. "We'll also be seeking the upgrading of Kickham Barracks to its original strength." In common with local TDs, the mayor made a plea that local financial institutions should offer assistance to heavily-borrowed Seagate workers when the loss of their wages begins to bite.
Such practical action may be the most realistic support available to the young Seagate workforce, as the language of recrimination and rancour begins to seem futile.
Ironically, a poster in the Seagate conference room where the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, sat yesterday, read: "What good is it . . . if you only have words to express yourself?"