Retail giant Tesco has announced 140 redundancies in its Irish operations.
The UK-owned multiple told staff today it would be seeking voluntary redundancies, mostly in its Dun Laoghaire head office.
It says all affected staff will be offered the opportunity of redeployment and retraining for jobs elsewhere in Tesco, either in Ireland or abroad.
The company is offering to make redundancy payments of five weeks per year of service, but capped at two years in total, The Irish Times understands.
Talks with individual employees about the options of redundancy, redeployment or retraining are to start shortly.
In a statement, Tesco said it was restructuring its central office operations as a result of changes to the retail market and supply structures. It claimed this was standard commercial practice and focussed on delivering an efficient retail business, lower prices and effective service for customers.
It pointed out that Tesco continues to open new stores in Ireland and is expanding in the rest of Europe, Asia and the US. "There are significant opportunities for staff in these areas, and we do not envisage any compulsory redundancies."
"All necessary central office functions, including a buying office, will continue in Ireland."
The restructuring of the company's Irish head office reflects the migration of buying and other functions to the UK and the outsourcing of other work to India.
Tesco Ireland makes annual profits of about €250 million a year in the Republic, The Irish Times revealed earlier this week.