The temporary closure of a €240m power plant due to a technical fault will cost millions of euro and up to 200 jobs, it emerged tonight.
Bord na Móna, which supplies peat fuel to the West Offaly Power Plant, said it would be forced to cut staff levels amid projected losses of over €5m.
The Shannonbridge plant, which opened just over a year ago, closed several weeks ago amid concerns about the level of corrosion in piping.
Bord na Mona Managing Director John Hourican said tonight that the company would be forced to review its permanent and seasonal staff numbers following the incident.
"It will have a serious impact on the profitability of Bord na Mona in the current (financial) year, which ends in March '07, and we're looking at figures in excess of €5m at this stage, which is serious for us," he said.
ESB spokesman Eoin O'Neachtain said the pipes, which are under warranty, would be replaced and the plant would be reopened.
"While we are disappointed we had to close down the plant for a few weeks and the loss of production associated with that, to a certain degree we're happy that it happened in the early stages and that it can be rectified," he said.
Contractor Foster Wheeler, which is headquartered in New Jersey, started work on the site on the east bank of the River Shannon in August 2002.
The plant generated its first power in September 2004 and has been in full operation since January 2005.