Smurfit Kappa Cartons, which makes folding cartons for the healthcare and hi-tech industries, is to close its plant in Coolock in Dublin with the loss of 140 jobs.
In a statement, the company said it had been affected by cost pressures currently being experienced in the manufacturing sector.
The company's management is to negotiate with staff representatives on redundancy terms and the plant will shut later in the year.
Amicus, which represents workers at the plant, said it hoped the company would live up to its position offering redundancy packages in line with those of other multinational companies.
Union official Brendan Byrne said it was difficult to accept how a consistently profitable company could suffer such a rapid reversal.
'This is another serious blow to manufacturing in the Irish economy. It is time that all the political parties took this crisis on board as a major issue facing our economy and deal with the real issues facing working people in their homes,' said Amicus national officer Jerry Shanahan.
