The surprise announcement by General Semiconductor Inc, the largest employer in Macroom, Co Cork, was made to workers at noon yesterday. As they gathered in the building, many workers expected the company was preparing to reduce the workforce by half.
Instead, the closure of its plant with the loss of 670 jobs by next Christmas was announced. Mr Steve Cowman, worldwide vice-president of General Semiconductor, told the stunned staff that as part of a corporate "downsizing" the plant would be closed by the end of the year.
The only good news Mr Cowman had to offer was that the company would negotiate "a fair and equitable redundancy package" with unions and would fund the establishment of a resource centre in Macroom to help people to retrain and find alternative employment.
The phased closure of the plant - a response to a 30 per cent drop in the overall semiconductor market this year, which the company says is unprecedented - will begin immediately.
Despite rumours that General Semiconductor was in trouble, news that an even larger US multinational corporation, Vishay, was preparing to take it over was seen as good for the Macroom plant only weeks ago. However, Vishay accepted General Semiconductor's strategy of downsizing, and that signalled the end for the Macroom plant, which was established in 1982.
A Fianna Fail TD, Mr Donal Moynihan, said he had phoned the Taoiseach and had been assured that everything would be done to find new jobs for Macroom.
Macroom Urban District Council is to meet in special session on Monday evening to discuss the closure.
Mr Cowman told The Irish Times last night that General Semiconductor had a responsibility to its shareholders and the reality was that the company was duty-bound to respond when revenues dropped.
While the company was sensitive to social issues, "at the end of the day we are running a business and that's the reality," he said.
Asked when the IDA had been informed of the company's decision to close, Mr Cowman said the IDA had been told several days ago.
The American company has been Macroom's largest employer since 1982 and over the years has become the focal point for secure, permanent employment, not alone in the town but also its hinterland. The company has plants in China, France and Germany as well as the US and produces semiconductors for televisions, radios and computers.