Nearly 500 people face losing their jobs when one of the State's biggest multinational investors closes a manufacturing plant in Galway next year.
Pharmaceutical and medical devices group Abbott told workers at its Galway facility yesterday it intends closing the plant as part of a plan that will see it cut about 1,200 jobs worldwide.
Abbott will begin winding down the Galway operation in January and will finally close its factory in the Mervue Business Park next September. Another 700 or so jobs will go in a similar plant in Temecula, California.
The group last night committed itself to redeploying between 50 and 100 staff to a facility in Clonmel which produces similar products.
Abbott said it has to cut excess manufacturing capacity as its operations have to become more efficient. Changes in medical practices have seen demand for these products fall significantly, particularly in the US. Abbott employs more than 3,300 people across seven facilities in the Republic.
It is the third-biggest employer in Galway after medical device manufacturers Medtronic and Boston Scientific. The Galway plant, Abbott Vascular, produces stents, used to widen clogged arteries in heart disease patients, and catheters.
Local Abbott vice-president Damian Halloran, who runs the Galway operation, said the growing cost of doing business in the Republic was not behind the decision to close the plant. "There is no question that these jobs are being moved to a low labour cost economy," he said.
The group is giving workers seven to eight weeks' pay for every year of service. However, local Siptu official Michael Kilcoyne said that this was inadequate.
Two Cabinet Ministers, Galway West TDs and the city's mayor expressed disappointment at the decision.
Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin said it represented a "major blow" and the State's job-creation agencies would be offering "every assistance" to staff.
Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív said Abbott had been a "very good and important employer" in the city. "The challenge now is to try to attract new industry to Galway so that the industrial base there continues to grow."
Labour Party president Michael D Higgins called on Mr Martin to organise meetings with the IDA and representatives of the region to discuss alternative employment. Mayor of Galway Tom Costello (Lab) said the closure was "very bleak news for the city coming up to Christmas".
The news came as new figures showed that 23,761 jobs had been lost in the Republic so far this year. The number is already higher than the 23,684 jobs lost in all of 2006.
A number of companies including Waterford Wedgwood, building materials group Cemex and drinks business, C&C recently announced plans to cut jobs.