The Government has said it will do what it can to support the workers at the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, after the company said more than 500 jobs in Cork are under threat.
The cuts follow a decision by Pfizer to drastically reduce its production capacity in this country, and to abandon development of a drug for cholesterol on which it had spent more than €800m.
Today the company said it would make 65 workers in Ringaskiddy redundant by the end of the year, while the positions of another 480 employees are under threat as the plants where they work are being sold as going concerns.
The employers' group IBEC said the latest job losses show further evidence of problems within the economy.
IBEC said urgent steps must be taken to increase productivity and decrease rising costs.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions said that, while today's job losses were unwelcome, the economy was continuing to do well.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio's Drivetime, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Micheál Martin, said the Government's priority was to assist the company's workers and to try to save as many of the jobs as possible.
Earlier, on RTÉ Radio's News At One, a spokesperson for Pfizer and site leader at their Ringaskiddy base, Dr Paul Duffy, said the company would be working with the IDA to find buyers for what he said were the two 'state of the art' facilities it was selling off.
Pfizer employs 2,200 staff at six manufacturing plants in Ireland.
Employees were called to simultaneous meetings at the plants in Cork and Dublin this morning.
The firm announced at the end of last month that it was cutting 10,000 jobs, 10% of its global workforce, as part of a restructuring programme.
Pfizer has been one of this country's top employers for more than 35 years. It has invested more than €1bn here, providing high-skilled and well-paid jobs.
More than 1,000 jobs have come under threat in Cork in the last month alone, causing union leaders in the county to voice their concerns about the situation.
