Industrial diamonds manufacturer Element Six is to make three-quarters of its workforce in Shannon, Co Clare redundant before the end of the year.
It has decided to close its production and distribution units by the end of the year and transfer the work to other Element Six sites. The move will lead to the loss of 370 jobs.
Just 80 employees will remain in Shannon in research and development, customer services and support functions.
Staff were briefed on the decision at 10am and the company will begin talks with union representatives tomorrow afternoon. A spokesman for the firm said it was likely that the job losses would be on a "phased basis" and were expected to be completed before the end of the year - subject to agreement with the unions.
Element Six - formerly De Beers Industrial Diamonds - reduced its workforce of 600 by 150 people last year through a voluntary redundancy programme.
The company was established in the 1960s as De Beers and is co-owned by De Beers and Belgian company Umicore.
It manufactures industrial diamonds and super-hard materials used in the manufacture of tools for drilling, sawing, cutting, grinding and polishing of different materials. The company has manufacturing plants in South Africa, Sweden, Germany and Israel.
Mayor of Clare Tony Mulcahy said the Element Six restructuring heightened fears that other multinationals could follow suit and relocate part or all of their operations.
Mr Mulcahy said he had requested an emergency meeting with the Tánaiste Mary Coughlan to discuss the availability of emergency funding for the Shannon Free Zone.
Fine Gael Clare TD Pat Breen said the Government had failed to realise that any plan for economic recovery must include job sustainment and job creation.
He said the Government must now "do all it can to provide workers with retraining opportunities and ensure that any redundancy deal is fair and reflects the loyal service workers have given to the company”.
Siptu official Mary O’Donnell criticised the terms of the redundancy package which she said included one week’s pay per year of service on top of statutory entitlements. She said on previous occasions the company had given six weeks pay inclusive of statutory entitlements.
Labour deputy Jan O’Sullivan said she was extremely concerned by the “seemingly relentless increase in unemployment” in the Mid West. She called on the Government to immediately publish the Dell Taskforce report and act on its recommendations. Ms
O’Sullivan also called on the Government to temporarily nationalise the banks to get credit flowing again.
Limerick Chamber expressed its "great disappointment" at the jobs announcement.
"This announcement is a further blow to the mid-west region,” commented Harry Fehily, president of Limerick Chamber.
“The crux of the problem in Ireland is that we are a high-cost manufacturing base and we can no longer compete with our counterparts," he said.
