THE US business delegation visiting Ireland to examine investment opportunities in Northern Ireland and the Border counties will be asked to look at the Packard Electric plant in Tallaght when it arrives in Dublin today.
Meanwhile, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has agreed to make urgent representations to senior executives of General Motors (GM), which owns Packard, through its US equivalent, the AFL/CIO.
The president of the AFL/CIO, Mr John Sweeney, and the executive vice president of GM, Mr Jack Smith, were among the guests invited to the White House dinner for the President, Mrs Robinson, last night at the start of her state visit.
The ICTU is understood to have been in touch with the AFL/ CIO and Mrs Robinson's entourage late yesterday to brief Mr Sweeney and Irish officials on the latest developments at Packard.
Earlier, Packard shop stewards met with the deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy, Mr Dennis Sandberg, while about 50 workers demonstrated outside.
Mr Sandberg was "moderately hopeful we can redirect some of them [the US business delegation] into the Tallaght area". He said he had been impressed by the record of the Packard workforce and the calibre of the shop stewards.
The ambassador, Mrs Jean Kennedy Smith, "has had ongoing contact with GM and we are looking for alternatives. We are encouraging companies to look at the Packard complex. It offers a lot of possibilities."
The shop stewards delivered a letter for Mrs Kennedy Smith, who is currently in the US for Mrs Robinson's visit. In the letter they said the closure of the Packard plant had been "a huge shock to the employees and the Tallaght area in general".
They called on the ambassador "to use your good offices to ensure that General Motors repay the workers of Delphi Packard Electric Systems for their loyal service over the past 21 years.
"At the very least GM should accept the Labour Court recommendation and invest in an alternative industry for the workers who have been made redundant".
Afterwards, a Packard shop steward, Mr Dick Payne, said if there was no progress soon in finding alternative employment, "there are certain things we may have to do which might jeopardise future American investment. Let's hope it doesn't come to that."