The Tanaiste, Ms Harney and the IDA chief executive, Mr Kieran McGowan, emerged from a 1 hour and 15 minute meeting with two top Apple Computer executives yesterday saying they were pleased, but refusing to discuss specifics about efforts to save jobs at the company's Cork plant.

Ms Harney said the meeting went better than expected but declined to say more on the basis that negotiations were at a delicate stage.

Ms Harney's spokesman, who was also present during the meeting, described it as very constructive. The Tanaiste asked them to consider bringing additional systems to the Cork plant and they were very receptive to putting other products into the plant.

Cork Chamber of Commerce President, Mr Conor Doyle last night welcomed the news and said it offered vital breathing space for the Cork operation to respond to the current challenges.

Apple began a review of the Cork operations last March when Mr Tim Cook, new senior vice president of worldwide operations, took over. This was followed by indications that Apple planned to relocate its circuit board manufacturing to a location of cheaper labour in the Far East, a move that could result in the loss of an estimated 600 jobs in Cork.

The company has itself been losing money for years, and has only returned to profitability in the last two fiscal quarters after the return of the fold of founder Mr Steve Jobs. He has cut costs and reduced the company's product line to just three computers and a handful of software titles. The sales of the new G3 computers have been among the strongest product launches in the company's history. The newest computer, a revolutionary design called the iMac, is set for release in August.

The Tanaiste's spokesman said Apple had given strong assurances that as long as there is an Apple, Cork will be the core of the company's strength in Europe.

Also present during the meeting was Apple's chief financial officer, Mr Fred Anderson, considered by many to be second only to Mr Jobs in influence at the company.

Apple spokeswoman, Ms Rhona Hamilton, said a decision about the plan would be made soon, but added, it was Apple's policy to tell the employees first about any developments.

Mr McGowan had flown in specifically for the meeting from New York, where he was part of President Mary McAleese's delegation during her visit to the East Coast. Before the meeting, he said he would seek to have Apple contract out the circuit board manufacturing to an Irish company if indeed Apple decided to contract out those operations.

The Apple meeting capped a whirlwind week for Ms Harney of hustling and wooing American business leaders. At a dinner at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose of some 300 Silicon Valley executives on Thursday night, she noted that she had visited the heart of the world's computer industry here three times in the last ten months.

The Irish delegation left San Jose to return to Dublin late yesterday.