Computer maker Gateway is making 132 workers redundant in north Dublin and more job losses are expected.

The San Diego giant will shed 28 permanent workers in two weeks and it has told 104 temporary staff that their contracts will not be renewed.

Gateway issued a profit warning on January 12th and said it wanted to cut 10 per cent of its 21,000-strong global workforce to increase earnings.

The managing director of its Irish operation, Mr Mike Maloney, yesterday indicated that further cuts were likely at the Dublin plant at which about 1,250 people work.

He would not specify how many redundancies the company would seek, saying only that Gateway's global target of a 10 per cent cut had not changed.

But an IDA Ireland spokesman said: "We understand that the global cut will apply to Ireland at 10 per cent."

Mr Maloney said up to 12 per cent of staff at certain Gateway operations globally may be made redundant.

A review in Ireland was well-advanced but not complete, he added. "This is not an easy time for anybody here and we are trying to communicate with staff first and foremost.

"It's in all our interests to get through this as quickly as possible."

The 28 staff leaving the company were drawn from all elements of its business at all levels.

Temporary workers would leave as their three- and six-month contracts lapsed between mid-February and May. Mr Maloney claimed this was "not unusual".

There were mixed reactions from workers leaving Gateway's plant in Clonshaugh Industrial Estate yesterday. The feeling of inevitability about the cuts, signalled over a week ago, was tinged with a sense of relief that the scaling back was not as excessive as many had originally feared.

But others were bracing themselves for possible bad news in the weeks to come.

"Management said it would keep reviewing the situation. Everyone is just getting on with things and hoping for the best," said one employee.

An Internet design company in Kerry has been forced to shed most of its staff, writes Anne Lucey.

The decision is attributed to a downturn of investor confidence, according to the company's managing director.

Mr Peter Walls says there is no actual decline in business at DingleWeb, but investor confidence has been shaken by the high-profile closure of Ebeon and profit warnings by larger companies in the area of new technology.

The company, which has won a number of minor awards, was set up three years ago.

It is involved in website design, business to business communications and has more than 150 clients.

From 11 staff before Christmas, DingleWeb is now down to a core of three, and these include management.