Some 200 temporary jobs in Waterford are to be lost as a result of a decision by contact lens manufacturer Bausch & Lomb to trim its workforce worldwide.
The company employs 1,750 at its Waterford facility and says some of those being laid off are likely to be rehired in the new year as business needs change.
The planned lay-offs were nevertheless described as a "big blow" to the workers and their families by Waterford-based Labour TD Brian O'Shea.
He called on Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin to ask job creation agencies to prioritise Waterford for investment, given the spate of job losses in the area in the recent past.
"In the past 18 months alone we have suffered the massive loss of jobs in Waterford Crystal, including the complete closure of the Dungarvan plant, as well as the closure of the Kilmeaden cheese plant, while other jobs were lost at NTL," he said.
Bausch & Lomb said the "adjustments" to its contact lens-making international workforce would take place over several months.
A total of 400 jobs are to go in plants at Waterford, Livingston in Scotland. and Rochester, in the US.
The company pointed out that it had added to its temporary workforce to "ramp up production" of a silicone hydregel contact lens marketed under the new PureVision.
It added that it was "transitioning" its contact lens lines, including its one-day products, to newer designs made using more advanced manufacturing technology.
Mr O'Shea said the announcement was part of a pattern which had seen the systematic loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector, traditionally a big employer in Waterford city and county.
"I hope that these lay-offs will be temporary, as the company suggests. However, steps are urgently needed to address the broader problem of the loss of manufacturing jobs in the Waterford constituency," he said.
Bausch & Lomb employs 13,700 people worldwide and has its headquarters in Rochester, New York. It made $2.2 billion in 2004.
