Ericsson Ireland has been criticised over the manner in which it laid off staff on the eve of the Christmas holidays as part of a rationalisation plan to deal with a downturn in its business.

A number of employees contacted The Irish Times to complain about the company's decision to announce redundancies on the last working day before the Christmas holidays.

"We weren't given any notice," said one employee, who did not wish to give his name.

"They just called us in and said: 'There's no longer a position for you'. Everyone was just shocked."

He said he understood about 40 people were informed that they were being let go on Friday, December 21st, four days before Christmas Day.

"It seems like they made a point of telling us just before Christmas so there would be nothing in the papers about it," he added.

"We got no explanation as to what criteria they used for the redundancies.

"For all the work done, all the late evenings, early mornings and weekends, that's all the thanks we got - not even an explanation."

Another caller remarked: "People accept there will be cutbacks but the manner and timing in which they did this is just a disgrace. They have devastated 40 families for Christmas."

The redundancies were said to be within LMI, a subsidiary known within Ericsson Ireland as the market unit, which deals with domestic mobile and fixed operators.

The company is seeking a further 90 redundancies from business support and administration divisions in Athlone, Dublin and D·n Laoghaire.

The lay-offs are part of a global efficiency programme, involving 17,000 redundancies worldwide, announced by the Swedish group last March.

A quarter of Ericsson's 2,000 Irish employees are members of SIPTU, which has negotiated an agreement with the company aimed at minimising the effect of the redundancies.

It is understood the compulsory redundancies have primarily affected non-unionised staff.

The company has refused to comment on the lay-offs despite repeated contacts by The Irish Times over the past week.