By any measure, the last seven days have been extraordinary ones for the country. But for Irish businesses and the economy, it is true to say they have been unprecedented.
Just as the economy was really starting to build a head of steam again and the scars and painful memories of the financial crisis were fading for many, out of the blue a shock that a couple of months ago we could never have imagined, arrived invisibly on our doorstep.
Never before have so many people, officially 58,000 at last count, lost their jobs in such a short space of time, and many more lay-offs will inevitably follow, with the Government acknowledging that over 400,000 positions are at risk.
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