Opposition reaction to the loss of 500 jobs at the Abbott Laboratories plant in Galway has been swift and furious.
Fine Gael innovation spokeswoman Deirdre Clune said the news was "a terrible blow for the area and will have major consequences for the local economy".
Deirdre Clune, Fine Gael
"The staff and their families are understandably shocked by this news and now face a very uncertain future.
"Abbot is a huge life science employer in Ireland with a workforce of more than 3,400 across the country. The closure of the Galway plant is very worrying because Abbot is the sort of high-end, biomedical employer we are supposed to be attracting," she said.
"This is another example of how rising costs is affecting Ireland's ability to compete on the world stage. Yet the Government has repeatedly ignored warnings about declining competitiveness. Ireland has fallen from fourth place to 22 in world competitiveness rankings because of soaring business costs and a lack of essential infrastructure."
Ms Clune said Minister for Finance Brian Cowen has an opportunity in the Budget to take action to reduce inflation to 2 per cent next year by freezing the "stealth taxes" and charges controlled by the Government.
Labour Party spokesman on foreign affairs Michael D Higgins said the loss of the 500 jobs was a "cruel blow" to employees and their families.
Fine Gael Galway West TD Padraic McCormack said staff at the plant were devastated.
"This could not have happened at a worse time of year with the Christmas break only weeks away and most families facing enormous expense," he said.
"I welcome the fact that Abbot is considering redeploying up to 50 staff at another location, but this is little consolation to the workers who have homes in the city and whose children are attending schools."
Sinn Féin Councillor Pádraig MacLochlainn described the job losses as a "severe blow for the county and the west of Ireland" and called on the government to invest in the region to counter the effects of the job cuts.
"We recently had the launch of the IDA report 2006 which included Abbott as an investment highlight of last year. The loss of 500 jobs today shows how unreliable this kind of investment can be," he said.