Up to 250 staff at Boston Scientific set to lose their jobs

UP to 250 staff at Boston Scientific’s plants in Galway and Cork are set to lose their jobs over the coming weeks.

The company has confirmed it told staff in Galway that it planned to reduce the workforce by up to 175 positions out of the approximate total 3,000 workforce.

The spokeswoman blamed market fluctuations for the redundancies. She said Boston Scientific remained strongly committed to its operations in Ireland “which are recognised as making a significant contribution to the organisation’s global operations network”.

However, later in the day it emerged from worker sources that a number of staff are to be made “temporarily” redundant at the company’s operations in Cork.

One source put the number at almost 190, another at 70. One source said the latest redundancies were temporary and were in addition to 82 temporary staff who were made permanently redundant two weeks ago.

It is understood the temporary job losses are due to delays in bringing a new product to the market.

The job losses in Cork were put to the company but it refused to comment last night. Last July, Boston Scientific invested more than €21 million in its facility on the Model Farm Road to research new ways to treat brain aneurysms and strokes.

While new jobs were not announced as part of the development, the company said it would lead to further employment in the future.

The US company has operations in Clonmel, Cork, Donegal and Galway.