Ericsson To Cut 300 Jobs In Ireland

Trade union SIPTU said the redundancies at Ericsson would come from the research and development section of its Dublin office.

Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson will cut 300 of its 1,700 jobs in Ireland as part of plans to save 10 billion Swedish crowns ($1.2 billion), the company said on Thursday.

"This is part of the action being taken across the world to consolidate operations into fewer locations," Country Manager John Hennessy said.

Trade union SIPTU said the redundancies at Ericsson would come from the research and development section of its Dublin office.

"These are high value added jobs with a highly productive, highly skilled graduate workforce and that makes the news that the company intends outsourcing to either China or Hungary all the more worrying", SIPTU said.

The Ericsson move is the latest blow to the ailing Irish economy and the high-tech industries which underpinned its "Celtic Tiger" boom which ended abruptly last year.

Dell, the world's No. 2 PC maker, in January moved production from the west of Ireland to Poland, with a loss of 1,900 jobs at Ireland's largest exporter..

Earlier on Thursday, Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost airline, said it would cut the number of routes served from its Shannon hub in the west of Ireland, with the loss of about 800 jobs in the area.

Figures on Wednesday showed Irish jobless claims hit a record high in January as a deepening recession spread from construction across the economy.

Ericsson last week also gave notice to almost 1,000 staff in Sweden.