Less than 20 Irish jobs to be cut in new round of Meta layoffs

The cuts will mostly impact Meta's Irish data centre, with another round of layoffs scheduled for May

A view of Facebook parent company Meta's headquarters in Dublin. Photo credit: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Less than 20 Irish jobs will be cut by Facebook's owner, Meta as the company undergoes a new round of global layoffs.

Mainly impacting Ireland's data centre team, it marks the third round of layoffs impacting Meta's Irish workforce.

The cuts form part of plans detailed by Meta chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, who issued an update last month on the company's extensive restructuring plans. 

Announcing layoffs aimed at recruitment in March, Zuckerberg warned that cuts impacting Meta's tech groups would follow in April, with further cuts to the company's business groups taking place in May.

Last month's recruitment layoffs led to 50 Irish jobs being cut, with a further 20 Irish employees being let go this time round.

The almost 70 jobs lost this year add to the 350 people made redundant as part of Meta's first round of layoffs announced last year.

In November, the social media giant announced a restructuring plan including more than 11,000 layoffs globally.

Once employing more than 3,000 people in Ireland, continuous layoffs have reduced Meta's Irish headcount to less than 2,600.

In addition to widespread cuts, Meta also extended a hiring freeze through the first quarter of 2023, adding to an industry-wide pullback in recruiting and spending across Silicon Valley. 

Meta shares fell by 1.6% to $214.41 (€195.65) in pre-market trading, tracking a broader decline in stocks.

Widespread layoffs afflicting Ireland's tech sector have continued into 2023, with some of the world's largest companies implementing major restructuring plans to curb falling demand.

So far, cuts across giants including Twitter, Microsoft, Dell, Indeed, Salesforce and Google have already led to 2,300 job losses in total, with more expected in the coming months.

Despite these cuts, the job losses are said to have "no visible impact" on the wider tech sector, with Minister for Enterprise, Simon Coveney saying, "This is a correction in the tech sector but it is certainly not a crisis."