Up to 160 temporary workers are to be let go at Seagate Electronics' Clonmel plant, it has emerged. The company has already announced plans to defer a 1,000-job project in Co Cork.

The workers are being let go from the Tipperary plant where 1,500 people are employed to carry out assembly work on the disk drives which the US multinational manufactures.

A spokesman was quoted as saying that the move to lay off temporary staff in Clonmel had nothing to do with the company's current difficulties regarding the Cork plant.

Over-capacity in the market is one of the reasons cited for the company's decision, announced on Tuesday night, to defer the Cork project for at least six months.

Meanwhile, a row has broken out between the new Government and the previous coalition. Cork South Central Fianna Fail TD, Mr Batt O'Keeffe, claimed that the previous government had engaged in "pre-election pressure tactics" regarding the Seagate announcement in Cork.

"There is no doubt that the previous government was seeking electoral advantage and pushed Seagate for a positive announcement prior to the election," he said.

Mr O'Keeffe claimed the previous Government "had put Seagate in a difficult position at that time".