UP to 250 jobs in Limerick will be lost following an announcement by electronics firm Flextronics yesterday that it would close its operation there due to continued weakness in the IT sector.

The decision comes on the eve of a major jobs loss announcement by HP, the technology firm formerly known as Hewlett-Packard which recently merged with the computer company Compaq. The double jobs blow will bring the number of redundancies in the technology sector over the past 18 months to more than 10,000.

IDA Ireland, which will make a formal statement on the health of the State's inward investment programme later today, said the decision by Flextronics to close its Limerick plant was "disappointing" and part of a worrying trend of redundancies in lower end jobs.

Flextronics, which manufactures telecommunications and computer equipment for other technology firms, said it would consolidate its two manufacturing facilities at Cork and Limerick.

This would result in the closure of its Limerick plant, which employs almost 400 staff. It is envisaged some 150 staff would be retained within the Limerick region, and most of the remaining workforce would be offered positions at its existing Cork facility, the Singapore-based firm said.

The announcement follows a major slump in the market for electronics equipment over the past 18 months.

In March, the company cut 370 jobs at a plant in Tullamore, Co Offaly, and moved the bulk of its operations to low-cost locations in Asia.

An IDA spokesman said the agency was disappointed by the job losses as many observers had expected a possible upturn in the electronics sector this year.

There was now little chance of recovery until next year, and no sign of green field investment in the IT sector in the near future, he added.

"Over the last 18 months, we've seen in the order of 10,000 jobs lost in the sector," said a spokesman. "The more worrying part is the job losses are continuing at the low end of an industry which is in turmoil."

IDA Ireland chief executive Mr Sean Dorgan will today launch the agency's annual report and make a formal statement on the health of the Republic's inward investment programme.

Meanwhile, HP is expected to make its long-awaited announcement on the impact of its merger with the computer firm Compaq.

The US firm, which employs 4,200 staff in the Republic and Northern Ireland, is expected to make hundreds of staff here redundant to cut out overlapping jobs.

The firm, which aims to shed 15 per cent of its global workforce, said last week that it would cut 5,900 positions out of a total European workforce of some 46,000 staff.

It said at the weekend it would cut 1,400 jobs in Britain out of a total workforce of 7,600, a figure above the global 15 per cent target.

Last night an HP spokeswoman said the company would announce the final Irish figures today, after it consulted with its workforce.