Waterford Crystal has confirmed that it plans to cut 490 jobs at its plant in Kilbarry, Co Waterford.
The company will reduce manufacturing capacity at Kilbarry, which it says is uncompetitive. It says it will outsource production and some administrative and 'back-office' operations.
Waterford Crystal says it has started discussions with its unions on the outsourcing.
The company's chief executive, John Foley said that while the job losses were regrettable, manufacturing at Kilbarry had become 'untenable' due to a combination of high costs and currency movements.
Mr Foley said this had reduced Waterford Crystal's competitiveness by tens of millions of euro in the past five years.
He said: 'The only way to secure the future of the operations in Waterford is to close the parts which are uncompetitive and to outsource these activities to lower cost environments which can meet the quality standards of the Waterford brand.'
Waterford Crystal said it will stop manufacturing loss-making lines at Kilbarry and concentrate on producing high-quality, cost-competitive products. It claims this will safeguard 510 jobs in Ireland, for now.
