Staff at the Dublin-based Web publishing firm Nua were told by management last night that a third of the workforce would be laid off today due to a lack of orders.

Lay-offs were expected at the firm and staff were told last week that some people would lose their jobs as part of a cost-cutting restructuring process.

Mr Gerry McGovern confirmed last night that 22 staff would be laid off. He hoped these lay-offs would be temporary in the event of orders being placed within the next few weeks.

"We are hopeful that things will turn around and we secure some orders," he said. "We have about 50-60 leads for our content management publishing product."

Mr McGovern said the slowdown in the US economy had hit the firm's order book. "We have targeted the US marketplace and this has been hit by Nasdaq," he said. "People are cautious about signing new orders."

Nua will keep its US office open for the time being, although its continued success would depend on more confidence entering the sector, said Mr McGovern.

Meanwhile, 1,600 staff at Gateway will be told today how the firm's restructuring plan will affect them.

Sources at the firm said yesterday a meeting was scheduled for this morning and any staff who were to be made redundant would be informed.

Gateway recently announced it would lay off 10 per cent of its global workforce following a poor set of results which showed demand for personal computers slowing.