Software companies have already sought to hire many of the 300 Motorola workers to be made redundant from the company's Cork plant, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said in Brussels yesterday.
Mr Ahern was speaking as Motorola confirmed it is to close its Cork operation with the loss of 330 jobs.
Accepting that the company's decision is "a personal tragedy" for the workers involved, Mr Ahern insisted that job losses are running at the same level this year as they were in 2006.
"I think, in fairness, this is the third time that Motorola have announced job losses - and they are all the same jobs," Mr Ahern said following the end of the two-day spring meeting of European Union leaders.
Job losses were an inevitable consequence of economic "shake- out", he said, adding that the economy lost 22,000 jobs last year, but that this was more than made up for by 60,000 new jobs.
"In an economy of about 2.2 million people, we are always going to get that shake-out. It is always sad for individuals," he said, adding that 22 companies had already gone to the Motorola plant to recruit staff.
"Thankfully, unlike in years past when we set up taskforces that were able, in reality, to do very little, in the last six or seven years we have been able to send in taskforces that can train, retrain, skill and upskill," he said.
Workers at the plant in Mahon are engaged in talks with management to determine their exact finish dates. The plant is expected to be shut down by the end of next May. The restructuring plan to cut costs was made after Motorola experienced a 48 per cent decline in fourth-quarter profits.
Workers at the plant expressed guarded optimism yesterday about finding similar employment in Cork. Tricia Balfe, who started work at Motorola 11 years ago, said the company had given people jobs when there was not any employment to be found in this country.
While she was disappointed to see the site close, she said the writing was on the wall for many years. Employees were trying to be positive about the situation and were exploring all possibilities to find new jobs in the area.
Employee representative Marie Murphy, who has worked at the company for 16 years, said Motorola had provided an opportunity to work "on many diverse and interesting projects".
Ms Murphy said most workers wanted to find work in Cork. Motorola had not taken on new staff in Cork in recent years so workers at Mahon were employed an average of seven years and were "well settled".
Fine Gael Cork South Central candidate Cllr Jerry Buttimer said the job losses posed serious questions about the ability of Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin to deliver for his home town.
"I would like to extend my sympathy to the workers and their families who will still have to cope with even higher mortgage repayments and rising inflation," Mr Buttimer said. "It is particularly disappointing that the Motorola plant is closing down altogether, as we had all been hoping that it would stay open in some capacity."