It has been another disappointing day on the jobs front, with losses at Classic Furniture and Merrill Lynch and a redundancy deal reached for part-time dockers at Cork Port.
The latest jobs blow for the north-easy came with the award-winning Monaghan company Combilift announcing that they are laying off 34 workers, with immediate effect, in what the company say is 'a restructuring programme to reduce company costs'.
Combilift will retain around 200 workers, which brings the company back to its employment figures for 2007.
Combilift make specialisied types of forklifts, such as long-load and 4-way lifts. Over 90% of the companies unique products are exported to over 40 countries worldwide.
And Classic Furniture has gone into receivership resulting in the closure of two of its seven stores leading to the loss of eight jobs.
The furniture supplier has a nationwide staff of 75. Eight jobs will be affected by the immediate closure of outlets in Navan and Sligo.
Kieran Wallace of KMPG has been installed as the receiver for Classic and he will assess the prospects for the stores in Blanchardstown, Kylemore Road and Coolock (all Dublin), Kilkenny and Carrickmines in the coming weeks.
In a statement released this afternoon, the firm said that it felt compelled to request receivership in the light of 'pressures the business was facing from various creditors, including landlords'.
Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports that global investment bank Merrill Lynch is to make 31 redundancies at its Dublin operations today. It has a workforce here of about 700.
Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch last year and due to the merger and the general economic climate the two institutions said they will see 30,000 to 35,000 global job losses over the next few years.
Elsewhere, a redundancy deal offered to rationalise working on the docks at Cork Port has been accepted by 93 dockers who are part of the casual labour force at the port.
The port company said in a statement that SIPTU has accepted the deal under the terms of a Labour Court agreeement to modernise dock working.
The agreement will result in 93 redundancies in the casual labour force, and a radical change in how ships are discharged and loaded.
Jobless benefit forms now on the web
Meanwhile, in an effort to speed up the processing of claims for unemployment payments, application forms have been made available on the internet.
Announcing the decision, Minister Mary Hanafin said the initiative was one of a number to improve services for those who have either lost their jobs or had their working hours reduced.
This decision follows complaints as far back as December from the St Vincent de Paul Society that it was taking as long as 12 weeks to get the dole in some places.
The Department has not significantly disagreed with that and has already moved additional staff to local offices experiencing particular pressure.
Now the Minister has announced that application forms are available for the first time to download from the Department's website, www.welfare.ie, by clicking on the "Recently Unemployed?" link.
Better jobs news in Armagh and Mayo
A pharmaceutical company in Northern Ireland is to create 130 new jobs.
Almac, based in Craigavon, Co Armagh, provides research, development and manufacturing services for more than 600 companies worldwide.
Separately, up to 20 new jobs are to be created over the next 12 months in Surface Power Ltd in Tuar Mhic Eadaigh, Co Mayo.
The company designs, develops and distributes renewable micro-systems such as wind turbines, wood pellets and solar panels.
Surface Power's research and development programs and international marketing programs are funded in association with Údarás na Gaeltachta.
Most of the manufacturing takes place in China. Surface Power is the only micro-generation renewable company in Ireland that is a member of the Irish Wind Energy Association.
