There was further bad news on the jobs front in the midwest yesterday with the announcement that a Limerick-based firm is to close with the loss of all 178 jobs.
IMAG Optical Storage in Raheen Business Park, which makes recordable and rewritable CDs, is to shed its entire workforce by the end of October.
The company's human resources manager, Ms Olive Duff, blamed the closure on the "complete collapse" of CD prices worldwide in recent months.
Last night the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, last night described the news as "very disappointing". "I express my sympathy to those who have lost their jobs but the priority now is that alternative employment is found."
Although the market for CDs had been depressed recently, news of the closure of the company came as a shock to its 178 employees in Raheen yesterday.
The jobs will be phased out in two stages, with the first wave of redundancies at the end of August. The remainder of the workforce will be made redundant in October when the company will cease operations.
IMAG, which has been based in Limerick since 1997, was taken over by a Taiwanese firm, CMC, in 2001.
These job losses represent a further blow to the region which has already seen job losses this year. Last month, an information technology company based in Limerick, Cognizant Technology Solutions, announced that it was ceasing operations with the loss of all 50 jobs.
The firm in Plassey Technological Park provided software development and maintenance services to clients in the United States.
Minister of State Mr Willie O'Dea, a TD for the area, expects to hear from workers in his constituency clinic this morning.
Mr O'Dea told The Irish Times last night: "The loss of 200 jobs, indeed 200 well-paid jobs, is certainly a blow to this area. I heard the news earlier this evening but I'm sure I will hear it in my clinic.
"I have no doubt that a series of meetings will take place with the company on the details of the losses, but there is no doubt today's news is certainly a blow," Mr O'Dea added.