Minister for Enterprise Richard Bruton has called on management and staff at Vita Cortex in Cork to hold talks aimed at ending a long running dispute over redundancy payments.
A group of 32 former staff have been staging a protest at the foam packaging manufacturing plant since December 16th in an attempt to secure their entitlements.
The company says €1.25 million it intended to use to pay the workers' redundancies has been frozen in the accounts of a sister firm that is now controlled by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
The workers, represented by Siptu, rejected an offer of €1,500 - along with the payment to workers of their last week's wages plus an ex-gratia payment of another week's wages - from the company before Christmas.
The company said it decided to close the Cork plant because the level of losses were threatening the viability of its remaining plants in Athlone and Belfast, which together employ a further 70 staff.
Mr Bruton said he was concerned about the situation and that he had asked the Labour Relations Commission to be on standby to assist in resolving the situation.
"In the interest of achieving an early resolution in this dispute, I would encourage both parties to meet under the auspices of the State's industrial relations machinery as soon as possible with a view to exploring ways of resolving the issues in dispute," he said.