How is the town of New Ross described in the novel, Small Things Like These?

The town of New Ross is described as quaint, quiet, and largely middle-class. Bill Furlong works as the timber and coal merchant in New Ross; foreign seamen often spend several days in the town while making deliveries to Furlong. In the novella, New Ross—and Ireland as a whole—is going through a period of economic and political turbulence. Many factories and businesses have laid off their employees or even closed entirely. Throughout the novella, Furlong often comments on the relative impoverishment of the town.