The Cork-based company Tyco Safety Products has confirmed it is to lay off 320 people over the next 12 months with the closure of its manufacturing division at Bishopstown.
The Cork facility was set up in the early 1980s and was previously known as Sensormatic. Among other things, it made fire detection products and security tagging devices for shops.
Before a meeting with management this morning, workers knew there were going to be job losses, but they were not sure of how many. There had been talk of 200 or so redundancies, but staff at the meeting heard that 320 jobs were going to be lost over the next 12 months.
Tyco intends stopping manufacturing at its Bishopstown plant, and will retain only 20 staff in its shared services centre.
Tyco says it will provide severance packages and outplacement services for all those being laid off.
The company said that great efforts had been made by employees in Cork to lower operating costs, but the cost cuts were not enough. It said that manufacturing operations are being moved abroad.
There was another jobs blow for Cork when Canadian company Allen-Vanguard announced plans to transfer work from its plant in Kilbrittain, Co Cork.
The company, which specialises in bomb disposal technology, is to move the assembly of bomb disposal robots from the Cork plant to a facility in the UK. It said this would affect 43 jobs.
The move is part of a restructuring plan aimed at cutting costs at the company by $6.3m.
100 jobs to go at Co Armagh plant
Almost 100 jobs are to be lost at a forklift truck manufacturing firm in County Armagh.
The posts are to go at global giant NACCO Materials Handling Group, the third largest producer of the equipment worldwide, because of falling demand.
93 positions will be made redundant over the coming months, with talks now beginning with staff.
Plant manager Alan Little said: 'For the last few months we have seen a significant reduction in demand within the European forklift truck market.'
He said the company was committed to safeguarding as many of the 712 jobs at the Craigavon plant as possible during the difficult time for the economy. Staff were told the bad news this morning but management said it had communicated closely with employees over recent months.
The announcement comes on the day that Seagate, one of the North's biggest employers shut its plant in Limavady which once employed over 900 workers.
