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Behind the headlines about lay-offs and redundancies are human stories, with thousands of workers having to adjust and redirect their lives. Here, three people discuss how they overcame the shock and forged a new path in new careers, writes MICHAEL KELLY.

THERE'S AN EERIE sense of deja vu about the current tranche of redundancy headlines, particularly for those who can remember the bleak days of the 1980s, when Ireland's dire economic situation earned us the unenviable nickname "The Sick Man of Europe". In the past year, 42,000 people have lost their jobs, up from 25,000 newly unemployed people the year before, and there's an increasing sense that, fuelled by a major downturn in the construction sector, the next 12 months could be considerably worse.