Dell Computer remains "very committed" to its operations in the Republic and does not foresee any further job cuts. Mr Kevin Rollins, president and chief operations officer for Dell, told a Dublin press briefing that Dell had been hiring again at its Limerick manufacturing facility - Dell's most productive facility globally - and at its Bray sales and call centre.

After some voluntary redundancies earlier in the year, the addition of 400 contract workers had pulled employment levels in Limerick back to pre-cut levels, while 100 new permanent workers brought numbers at Bray to 1,200, said company officials.

"We're still very committed" to Dell's Irish base, said Mr Rollins. Dell, which has an annual Irish wage bill of £87.9 million, also remains the top PC supplier in the State, with a 35 per cent market share, according to analyst IDC.

Dell is one of the few computer manufacturers to be growing in the current market. The firm increased computer shipments by 9 per cent, even as the global market declined by 10 per cent, said Mr Rollins. The company viewed the downturn as an opportunity to steal market share from harder-hit competitors, he said.

Because it was focused on selling higher-end and higher-profit equipment such as servers to the corporate and industrial market, rather than the low-margin consumer market, Dell could remain hardier in lean times, said Mr Rollins. The company's tight inventory control and lean manufacturing model meant it had a 29 to 40 per cent cost advantage over competitors targeting the corporate market, he said. However, he noted that much of Dell's European growth came from the consumer rather than the corporate market. He said he didn't think the economic environment in the fourth quarter was going to change much from the present "sluggish" corporate market.