Electronics firm to lay off 230 staff in Dublin

Electronics company Creative Labs is to lay off 230 employees at its Dublin plant as part of a major global restructuring plan.

Last week the company - which produces digital music players - closed its assembly-line operation in the Ballycoolin industrial estate in Blanchardstown.

In a statement today, the company said the operation would now be outsourced to a lower-cost location with the loss of 90 jobs.

It also plans to outsource a number of additional activities in Dublin, including manufacturing and logistics functions with the loss of further 140 jobs.

But the company said its European headquarters would remain in Dublin, employing approximately 200 people.

Creative Labs was founded in 1981 and has its headquarters in Singapore.

The European headquarters was established in 1993 to capture a share of the European digital music market. At its peak, it employed over 500 staff at the Ballycoolin plant.

It was reported that Creative Labs is to outsource operations to the Netherlands and Eastern Europe.

Local Labour Party TD Joan Burton said the news was a "major blow both to employees and the area in general", following recent reports that jobs may also be lost at the nearby Xerox plant.

"There have been rumours for some time of downsizing at the factory but it had been hoped that a significant number of jobs would be maintained," Ms Burton said.

"However if these reports are true, the remaining 230 staff are to be laid-off from January to follow the 80 redundancies announced last week. First and foremost therefore my sympathies are with the employees of Creative Labs. No time is good to hear that you are losing your job, but immediately before Christmas is particularly cruel."

Ms Burton appealed to Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Micheál Martin to intervene with the company to see if these jobs can be maintained in Ireland rather than transferred overseas.