The Shinko Microelectronics plant in Tallaght, Co Dublin, is to close with the loss of 340 jobs, workers at the plant were told yesterday.

The news was broken to the workers - more than 50 per cent of whom have been with the company for more than 10 years - by a senior Japanese executive. The plant is to close by early November.

The semiconductor plant, which is a joint venture between Fujitsu and Shinko Electric, made semiconductors mainly for mobile phone units, the worldwide production of which has slumped in recent months. The plant has been in existence in Tallaght since 1980 and received £20 million (€25.4 million) in investment in 1999- 2000.

The Tβnaiste, Ms Harney, who met with senior executives from Shinko Microelectronics yesterday, noted Fujitsu has three other plants in Dublin "and I have been assured they will not be affected by this decision and will continue to employ nearly 600 people".

Talks with SIPTU are due to begin on Monday in relation to a severance package, which Ms Harney said she was confident would be a "generous" one. She said State agencies would be working with the company in assessing the skills profiles of the workforce to identify whatever retraining might be required.

The workforce at the plant applauded the Japanese executives after they told an emotionally charged meeting that the plant would have to close because of the economic conditions.

Human resources manager Mr Roger Murphy said the workers had known the plant was in difficulties and had this year supported a number of efforts to keep the operation afloat. "They took a pay cut and compulsory holidays. They tried to rise to the challenge but in the end they were sandbagged by the collapse of the market."

Mr Murphy said the staff at the plant were exceptional and there was great sadness, but very little negativity. More than 50 per cent of the workforce had stayed with the company for over a decade, he said, and there was great stability.

"I've been here since September 1980," said Mr Murphy (59). "I was the first employee and maybe I'll be the one to turn out the lights."

Mr David Kincaid (39), a production supervisor from Saggart, Co Dublin, said he had been 21 years with the company and was very sad about the development.

"It's a very sad day for the company and for the employees. Going back over the years, a lot of people here started when they were young, like me. I was 18. There are managers in there who started at the same age. They have families. We all started families together, bought houses, so it's a sad time."

He said everyone was very emotional, from the operators to the management. "We did everything we could to keep it going."

Mr Adrian Gallagher, 25, a maintenance engineer from Tallaght, said the workers knew closure was coming and so it was not such a shock - but it was a sad development.

"It was excellent, definitely a good place to work. Up to a few years ago you couldn't get into the place."

He said when he'd first started he'd been struck by how many people had been there for more than 10 years.

"It's like the break-up of a community," said another man. "They grew up together, made matches, had babies, things like that."

Fujitsu made losses of $339 million (€366 million) on sales of $8.7 billion in the first quarter of this year. The Tallaght plant is understood to have been losing a lot of money, despite the investment of £20 million last year.