The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, will be urged today to seek a replacement for the Krups factory in Limerick, whose closure was announced on Friday.
Ms Harney will meet representatives of the 500 workers and management at the plant in Roxboro this afternoon and give them details of the Inter-Agency Response Group, chaired by IDA Ireland, which she has asked to be set up.
Mr Michael Long, the branch secretary of SIPTU, said yesterday: "Limerick has an excellent factory, which the French do not appear to want, and a team of highly-skilled workers. What is needed now is somebody to provide jobs for them." Mr Desmond O'Malley, a former minister for industry and commerce, who was involved with the earlier success of the Krups factory, welcomed the decision to set up the response group. The immediate need was to find an alternative industry for the factory and to try to place as many of the workers as possible in alternative jobs, he said.
The two Bishops of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray and Bishop Edward Darling, issued a statement which was read in churches yesterday, saying that the job losses would have "a terrible impact on the fabric and quality of lives of many families in Limerick". They added that it was particularly distressing "coming as it does in the run-up to Christmas. Many families will feel devastated at the prospect that the sole breadwinner, often a woman, will become unemployed."
The statement asked all to pray that an alternative industry may be quickly found and that families and individuals suffering "this dreadful and unexpected blow may be sustained through this painful time".
Details of the redundancy settlements will be announced to the workers next Monday. Mr Long said they will be seeking higher than the statutory minimum redundancy payments in view of the long and loyal service of the Krups workers, who had already made financial sacrifices during the last few years after the take-over by a French company.
The Krups factory was under the control of Robert Krups, of Solingen, Germany, for 145 years until 1991, when it was taken over by Moulinex on a transfer of all shares to the French company. At the time it had a leading position in the small electrical appliance sector in Europe, with a turnover of £800 million at the Limerick plant.
The new company then embarked on a sales promotion in the United States which did not live up to expectations. The industrial operations director for Ireland, Mr Liam McElligott, who is chairman of the Shannon Development Company, took over the running of the two Irish plants just over a year ago.
He said the GMX facilities in Thurles, which had a workforce of 250, would now become the centre of production for Moulinex in Ireland.