The Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, has met a delegation from Mallow, Co Cork, at Government Buildings.
The delegation was led by the Mayor of Mallow, Richard Dempsey, and includes trade union and farm representatives as well as the Fianna Fáil deputy Ned O'Keeffe.
They discussed the problems caused by the impending closure of the country's last remaining sugar plant in Mallow.
Last week, Greencore announced that the Co Cork factory would close in May with the loss of more than 330 jobs.
It blamed the closure on the package of reforms agreed for the sugar industry by EU farm ministers last December.
About 3,700 beet farmers will now have to stop producing beet.
