Tullamore is to lose 80 jobs following the announcement today that the Flextronics plant in the town is to close.
The closure comes 18 months after the computer components company released 370 employees, blaming the loss of contracts to low-labour-cost competitors in the far east.
Local Fine Gael TD, Ms Olwyn Enright said the latest in a long line of redundancies in the midlands in recent years showed the Government's failure regional development policy.
"Balanced regional development and Objective One Status have been shown to be nothing more than jargon used by this Government, to talk themselves out of the difficulties we are facing," Ms Enright said.
She said 1,725 people who have lost their jobs in the midlands since January 2002 and the IDA's annual report for 2002 shows none of the 20 new industries set up in Ireland located in the Border, Midland, Western regions.
"The simplistic answer of a changed economic climate doesn't wash anymore. Clearly some companies are still setting up business in this country and it is the Government's responsibility to ensure an even spread of employment."
Flextronics has around 95,000 employees, working in 29 countries across five continents. It electronic design and manufacturing and recorded revenues of $13.4 billion in the past year.
It still retains sites in Cork, Dublin and Shannon.