Almost half the staff at a Dublin computer disk plant are to be laid off after Christmas. Management at Applied Magnetics in the Clonshaugh Indus- trial Estate, Coolock, told staff at closing time yesterday that 120 of the 280 employees would be let go on January 5th.
The US-owned company has been in Ireland since 1980 and supplies disk head assemblies to the international disk-drive industry. The IDA had been aware of the firm's difficulties for some time and is having discussions with management about the plant's long-term viability.
An IDA spokesman said the company had suffered from the same "stagnant" market situation which caused the review of Seagate's Irish operations. This left management with "no option" other the immediate reorganisation and lay-offs.