Motorola to shed up to 150 hi-tech jobs

UP to 150 hi-tech jobs were on the line last night at the Irish headquarters of the world’s second-biggest mobile phone maker.

Staff at Motorola Ireland Ltd’s research and development centre in Mahon, Cork, were told yesterday afternoon that between 30 and 150 jobs will go at the facility in the coming weeks.

It is understood the job losses are the result of a global rationalisation programme being undertaken by the company.

The company has around 500 employees working on software development and semi-conductor design in the Cork facility and about 10 staff based in a sales and marketing office in Swords, Co Dublin.

It was not clear last night what sections of the Cork operation will be affected.

However, it is understood the jobs will be cut from a number of different groups working on various contract and out-sourced technology projects.

It wasn’t clear whether more job losses are planned. The long-term viability of the Mahon operation was also unclear.

Plant manager Tom Shirley flew in from the United States to make yesterday’s announcement. Mr Shirley said management has yet to decide the exact number of redundancies, but it is understood they will be seeking a number of voluntary redundancies.

The firm announced a number of significant job losses in the US two weeks ago and staff said the writing was on the wall for the Cork facility.

Enterprise Minister Micheál Martin said it was important to point out these job losses were due to external market forces, and not as a result of economic conditions in Ireland.