The Fine Gael spokesman on enterprise and employment, Mr Phil Hogan, has demanded Government action on unemployment following the the loss of 40 jobs in Carlow town.
Management at Lapple Ireland, a manufacturing plant for car parts, blamed the losses on exchange-rate fluctuations, increases in indirect costs and low-cost manufacturing in other countries. Mr Hogan said that the plant, which employs 290 people, was one of the largest employers in Carlow, and news of the job losses had sent shockwaves throughout the county.
"This country is haemorrhaging jobs at an an alarming rate," he said. "There will be 200,000 people on the dole by the end of the year."
Mr Hogan, who is a TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, said recent live register figures had shown an increase in unemployment in Carlow town of 9 per cent in the year up to last month. This compared to a national average of 5 per cent, he added.
"As a local representative, I am demanding that the Government pay attention to this news. The job losses should be a wake-up call to the Government, which has loaded one burden after another on Ireland's beleaguered industrial sector."
He accused the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, of being "obviously clueless" when addressing the rapid deterioration of national competitiveness, and warned that many communities were experiencing the devastation of growing unemployment.
Meanwhile, the food and drinks sector of IBEC, the employers' confederation, predicted that if farmers decided to opt for direct payments not tied to production in the reform of the CAP, 800 jobs would be lost in the industry.
A statement said that Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, had estimated that "full decoupling" of beef production from direct payments would lead to a 15 per cent reduction in beef production.
"This is equivalent to a reduction in the value of the beef sector to the Irish economy of €270 million and a reduction in employment of over 800 jobs in the sector," the statement said.
It said the value of beef at farm level would be reduced by €225 million and that net factory output would drop by €45 million. "The practical implication of a 15 per cent reduction in the beef herd is that Ireland's ability to compete for quality markets would be severely constrained. Any reductions in cattle numbers will result in a loss of the economies of scale achieved by the industry in recent years," it continued.
"In essence this means that the same cost burden will have to be carried by more inefficient units with lower throughputs. Given that current processing industry rationalisation plans are stalled and that market mechanisms have not caused any significant exodus from the sector, it seems clear that further inefficiencies caused by lower production levels will be passed back to the producers in terms of a further lowering of prices," it added.
It warned farmers who believed full decoupling would bring higher prices that this was not the case. The price would continue to be set by the market, it added.