Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has pledged to put the resources of State agencies at the disposal of Waterford Crystal workers to help them find new jobs as the Opposition demanded Government action to assist Dungarvan.
A spokeswoman for Mr Ahern said last night that he regretted the announcement, "particularly the impact on workers and their families.
The company should have the resources of Fás, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA available to them to help in finding alternative employment and to give assistance in relation to future business plans."
Dungarvan-based Fine Gael TD John Deasy called on the Government to seek alternative investment after what he called a devastating blow to the local economy.
"Four hundred jobs are being lost in a town of approximately 8,000 people, equivalent to 5 per cent of the population. This is absolutely devastating to the local economy." He said the county had two Government TDs, one of whom - Martin Cullen - was a Minister.
"Dungarvan has been continually promised additional jobs through decentralisation, and it was announced some years ago that Ordnance Survey Ireland would be relocating to Dungarvan. That now seems like a distant memory. I will continue to put pressure on Government TDs who have promised a great deal but who have yet to deliver for Dungarvan."
Fine Gael spokesman on enterprise Phil Hogan said the job losses showed the Government "has lost its way in terms of addressing rising costs and competitiveness in the economy".
Labour's Waterford TD Brian O'Shea said the details of the restructuring package at Waterford Crystal in Dungarvan were "quite devastating".
He called for a strategy to ensure that those facing unemployment were retrained. "It is up to the Government to do everything it possibly can to minimise the job losses and to minimise the economic damage these job losses could cause the wider area," he said.
Sinn Féin spokesman on enterprise Arthur Morgan TD said the Government must share responsibility for the job losses with the Waterford Wedgwood management. "The Government must also share responsibility. It has lionised the likes of Tony O'Reilly, non-executive chairman of Waterford Wedgwood, and fostered a corporate culture which can freely dump working people."