No jobs expected to be lost at Amazon’s Irish operation - Varadkar

The Government is not expecting Amazon’s Irish operation to cut jobs as part of the company’s global staffing review according to the Tánaiste who also said that no “significant” cuts are expected at Intel here.

Leo Varadkar said “our initial advice from the IDA, which has been in touch with Amazon, is that they’re saying no job losses are currently anticipated for Ireland. But of course that could change. [They] had a good engagement with Intel as well in the last couple of days and while we have had no absolute guarantees from Intel, we’re not expecting significant job loss job losses from that company.”

Both companies employ around 5,000 people in Ireland with planned investment by Intel expected to bring that figure to some 6,500 by the end of next year.

Amazon, which opened its first Irish “fulfilment centre” in Baldonnell in September with about 500 people hired, has recently said that it will cut jobs from its global operations with up to 10,000 positions estimated to be under threat internationally. The company employs around 1.5 million people globally.

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Mr Varadkar said the Government is still awaiting formal notification from Twitter of its plans but expressed sympathy for those currently affected in its Irish operation and at other firms. He insisted, however, that the overall jobs outlook in Ireland remains positive.

“We haven’t received the formal redundancy notification from Twitter. We have received indications today from Ulster Bank who are laying off some staff, Wayflyer ... and also Intercom. Obviously my thoughts are very much with the people working in those businesses who’ve been informed that they’re going to be made redundant.

“But I do think we should bear in mind that there are still a lot of vacancies in the economy. and we’re still projecting net jobs growth for next year. By this time next year, there’ll be more jobs not less,” he said.