Around 120 people are to lose their jobs with the closure of an electrical contract company in Cork.
CG Services in Ballycurreen industrial estate, on the Airport Road, announced it is to close within weeks.
The company operated electrical contracting services and process instrumentation for manufacturing companies.
In a statement yesterday its managing director, Mr Chris Granby, said the global downturn in the market and increased competition were to blame for the closure.
He described last Friday as "a tragic day" for the workers and the company.
The majority of workers were laid off last Friday, with only administrative staff and management remaining at work at the facility.
"It is effectively closed from this week - and a redundancy procedure is now being set in place. We will be talking with the workers' union," Mr Granby said.
He said staff were made aware of the difficulties recently and he confirmed that the company had gone into voluntary liquidation.
A meeting of the company's creditors will take place on March 1st in the Carrigaline Court Hotel.
Although company representatives would not be drawn on exact figures for the financial difficulties it is understood the firm lost almost €140,000 as creditors of Irish Ispat, which closed in June 2001.
Earlier, Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union regional secretary, Mr Pat Guilfoyle, said the news had come as a huge shock to employees.
He said he hoped a liquidator could be appointed as soon as possible to speed up the redundancy process.
"CG Services is one of the best employers in Cork and they have been involved in training apprentices who have been picked up by major pharmaceutical and IT companies.
"The workers are all highly skilled," he said.
The news is a further blow to the Cork region with the recent announcement by Cork-based airline Jet Magic that they were to cease operations with the loss of 100 jobs.
Also, 150 short-term workers at Flextronics were laid off and 170 jobs were lost at Schering Plough.