Krups workers in Limerick have voted overwhelmingly to accept a £13.8 million redundancy package which was in line with union advice. In a secret ballot the final vote was 414 for acceptance and 16 against. The 70 management and administration staff, while they had no vote, were informed they will receive the same benefits. These include four weeks' pay for each year of service in addition to the normal statutory redundancy.

With the average service being 18.5 years, it means that workers will get something between £20,000 and £40,000 each. The management of Moulinex, the French company that bought out Robert Krups of Solingen, Germany, in February 1991, have also offered £100,000 to retrain the workforce. This will be carried out by FAS and details will be worked out on Monday by the Inter-Agency Response Group set up last month by the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, when she visited the factory after the 500 workers were declared redundant. Mr Michael Long, SIPTU branch secretary, said: "We felt somewhat humbled at the degree of co-operation all round". He said that SIPTU and craft workers, who are members of TEEU, voted together and provision was made by management to enable any workers who were sick to cast their vote.

The announcement of the shutdown resulted from the collapse in the Russian and Asian markets for products which represented 10 per cent of the turnover.