THE FUTURE of Dell in Limerick is to be discussed by the Cabinet today as an announcement on the fate of 2,000 jobs at the Raheen facility is expected in the coming days.
Limerick East TD and Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea said he will raise the issue at today's first Cabinet meeting of the year, as pressure mounts for clarity on the future of Limerick's largest employer.
It is feared that two-thirds of the 3,000 staff employed at Dell Limerick could be laid off if the computer giant presses ahead with plans to move its manufacturing facility to Lodz in Poland.
Several hundred jobs in the logistics, finance and company command centre are expected to be maintained.
However, the loss of the 2,000 manufacturing jobs would have a devastating effect on thousands more dependent jobs in the mid-west region.
It was reported yesterday that senior management at Dell's Irish arm had been briefed in preparation for an announcement tomorrow. A spokeswoman for the American multinational dismissed reports that a decision was due tomorrow as "simply more speculation". Other Dell sources said last night that an announcement was "imminent".
The computer giant's chief executive Michael Dell met Minister for Enterprise Mary Coughlan and Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea last month, where he indicated the company would reveal its decision directly to staff, and not via politicians or media leaks.
It was initially reported that Mr Dell would travel to Limerick to inform staff personally of their fate, but Dell sources insist he has "no plans whatsoever" to visit the Raheen plant.
"When we met Michael Dell and his executives in Austin, Texas, he said to us very firmly that any announcements to be made would be made by the company themselves and they reserved the right to do this," said Mr O'Dea.
"I will be raising the Dell issue at Cabinet on Wednesday morning . . . I just want to see if there has been any developments in the sense of people trying to take over the manufacturing aspect or whether Dell has finally communicated its final decision to Government and, if they have, what their final decision is and when they will be announcing it," he added.
The Minister added it was "unfortunate" the trip he made to Dell headquarters with Ms Coughlan had received media attention, as it had caused great concern among the company's employees in Limerick.
The two Ministers travelled to Austin before Christmas to propose measures to save up to 2,000 Limerick jobs.
Former Dell executive Nicky Hartery has not commented on reports he has put a consortium of investors together to try and continue laptop manufacturing at the Limerick plant.
IDA Ireland chief executive Barry O'Leary said the agency had been aware of the threat in the personal computer business as companies sought to move their operations to lower-cost locations in Asia.
He said the IDA had been bringing a lot of new investment into the Shannon region including 315 jobs in Microsemi in Ennis, and Vistakon investing €100 million in its plant in Limerick. Such projects would create 1,000 jobs in total.
"We always have a portfolio of projects in the pipeline. We would always be conscious not to have an area over-reliant on one employer in a particular sector," he told RTÉ's News at One.