Xilinx, a Dublin-based technology firm, is to make more than a quarter of its workforce redundant over the next nine months due to the outsourcing of some operations from Ireland.
Management told the 400-strong workforce at its European headquarters in Citywest this morning there would be 130 compulsory redundancies as the company ceases some manufacturing and testing here.
This work will be transferred to its operation in Singapore and to existing outsourced service providers based outside Ireland.
A spokesman attributed the job cuts to a “global reorganisation to ensure ongoing competitiveness". He said the move was "designed to make Xilinx as competitive as possible in that climate".
Xilinx, which develops and makes high quality microchips, is reducing its global workforce by 6 per cent.
The company, which also has headquarters in California and Singapore, has started a period of consultation with staff although relocation to Singapore is not being offered.
It is understood its Irish workforce will be offered a package of six weeks pay per year of service to a maximum of one year’s pay, in addition to statutory redundancy.
Fine Gael Senator Frances Fitzgerald said her sympathies go to those who’ve lost their jobs as there has never been a more difficult time to try to find work in Ireland.
“The fact that some of the jobs being lost are to be moved to the company’s operations in Singapore is further evidence of how Ireland’s sliding competitiveness is draining the life blood from our labour force,” she said.
“The Government must immediately set about addressing the issues which are causing us to shed jobs at such a phenomenal rate so that we can ensure that remaining jobs, at the Citywest firm and elsewhere, remain there.”
Pat Rabbitte, Labour’s Dublin South West TD, said the job losses were a major setback for the local economy.
“There is no good time to face redundancy, but in the current climate, it is likely to be particularly challenging for people to find their feet in the short term,” he said.
“It is time that the Government was more pro-active in terms of measures to retain the jobs we have in companies like Xilinx that have the capacity to grow again when the economy turns”.