The closure of Spicers bakery in Navan led to calls at a meeting of Navan Town Council on Tuesday night for a meeting with Employment Minister, Richard Bruton to discuss the unemployment situation in Navan.

Standing orders were suspended at the meeting to discuss the closure, on the proposal of Cllr Joe Reilly, who pointed out that 25 local families had lost their income as a result.

He said that jobs are being shed throughout the town, particularly in the retail sector but aren't hitting the headlines like the closure of Spicers.

"We have a 14 per cent unemployment rate but I just don't see anything in the line of job creation strategy coming to the town," he said.

"Minister Bruton is a Meath man and knows the county. We should ask him to meet us as the Minister responsible for jobs and development and we have a strong case to put to him," he said.

"There are a large number of foreign investment jobs coming into the country, bu we are not seeing any of them," he said.

Cllr Anton McCabe said that Spicers Bakery was part of the history of Navan and the workers who had lost teir jobs had given their lives to the bakery.

"The Town Council has to approach the relevant agencies to try to create employment int he town," he said.

Cllr Shane Cassells said they would have to look at what measures they could inroduce in the budget to help local traders this Christmas and called for a meeting with IDA chiefs.

Cllr Jim Holloway suggested that they develop a niche area for Navan for investment, which would attract sectoral interests.