A US-owned medical devices firm employing hundreds of people in Athlone, Co Westmeath, is to transfer the manufacturing line for one of its products to Thailand.
Over 600 workers at the Covidien plant in Westmeath were given the news yesterday evening that manufacture of one of the firm's endotracheal tube manufacturing processes would be moved over a two-year period.
Endotracheal tubes are devices used to keep airways free in medical procedures. The company manufactures a number of different airways products in Athlone and a spokeswoman said this would continue.
The company said it would be meeting with unions today to begin discussions on voluntary redundancies with as many as 100 job losses feared.
"At this point it is to early to speculate on the numbers involved," said Rhonda Luniak, the vice president of communications, respiratory and monitoring solutions at Covidien. "We will maintain a strong presence in Athlone even in spite of this particular move of one product line to Thailand."
"A lot of things can happen in a two-year period and we are working on bringing in a number of new products into Athlone as well as the products that can come out of our research and development effort there. We are also making additional investments in the plant," Ms Luniak added.
Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation Richard Bruton said he was keeping a close eye on the situation.
"It is heartening that even if there are some job losses they are future-proofing their investment there, and they have a long-term commitment here and its important to support investment for the future and strong jobs that are
sustainable into the future," he said.
Covidien, which is headquartered in Dublin, has operated in Ireland for over 30 years and currently employs about 1,500 staff.
The company, which opened an €11million customer services centre in Cherrywood, Co Dublin in July 2010, cut almost 200 jobs here last year at its medical devices manufacturing plant in Tullamore, Co Offaly.
Covidien, formerly Tyco Healthcare, employs 41,000 employees worldwide in more than 65 countries and employs 41,000 staff worldwide. It announced revenues of $10.4 billion last year.
