An electronics company is to lay off 250 workers at its plant in Cork city.
Flextronics said the redundancies would include 100 permanent staff and 150 temporary workers, but refused to make any other comment on the decision.
However, it understood the redundancies follow the Cork operation losing out on a contract to a Flextronics operation in the far east.
Labour Party Deputy for Cork North Central Ms Kathleen Lynch criticised the company and called for the Tánaiste, Ms Harney to intervene to prevent further losses in the tech sector.
"These lay-offs are part of a disturbing trend that has seen hundreds of Irish jobs relocated to low-cost labour markets in the Far East this year. The Tánaiste must intervene to prevent this haemorrhaging of jobs in the telecommunications, IT and electronics sectors that have been part of the country's economic growth in recent years.
"Flextronics has steadily reduced its workforce in recent times. Last year almost 400 jobs went from its plant in Limerick, with the explanation that this was to consolidate its facility in Cork. However, this has shown to be nothing more than a quick-fix excuse as Cork has now suffered a similar fate.
The company has around 95,000 employees, working in 29 countries across five continents. It electronic design and manufacturing and recorded revenues of $13.4 billion in the past year.
It has sites in Cork, Dublin, Shannon and Tullamore.
The company announced in 2001 that it was cutting its global workforce by 15 per cent. The Tullamore operation lost 370 of its 440 jobs last year while a further 250 were lost in Limerick.
Today's losses came the same day as an American communications company, Lucent Technologies, said it was to lay off 120 workers at one of its Irish plants.
The move could also see the remaining 50 employees at the affected operation in Dublin shifted to another of the firm's sites in the Irish capital.
The staff being made redundant have been told they can apply for jobs with the company in Spain and India.
The development marks a second blow for the affected plant, where 60 jobs were lost last month. But Lucent has insisted that it is committed to its Irish operations, saying there is no question mark over the future of its other base in Dublin.