Waterford Crystal has confirmed this afternoon that it plans to cut 490 jobs in Kilbarry, Waterford.
The company will reduce manufacturing capacity at Kilbarry, which it says is 'uncompetitive', and 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, while saying that the job losses were regrettable, said manufacturing at Kilbarry had become 'untenable' due to a combination of high costs and currency movements.
He said these 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 will stop making loss-making lines at Kilbarry and concentrate on producing high-quality, cost-competitive products. This will safeguard, for now, 510 jobs in Ireland.
Mr Foley said: 'While I regret the loss of 490 jobs, it is imperative that we continue to focus on our remaining cost competitive capabilities to secure the future of manufacturing in Ireland while continuing to monitor the value of the dollar.'
The company confirmed on November 8 that job losses were going to be significant, after weeks of speculation that 500 workers at the plant were to lose their positions.
Prior to that confirmation, the trade union representing workers in Waterford Crystal, the ATGWU, had resigned itself to redundancies following a meeting with senior management.
Waterford Crystal reported a pre-tax loss of €57.5m for the six months to the end of September, more than double the loss of €20.7m reported the same time last year. The company said its sales for the six months were down 7.1% to €317.4m.
