Tanaiste calls urgent meeting with IDA Chief

The Tanaiste Mary Harney travels to Macroom today to meet employees of General Semi-Conductor which is closing with the loss of almost 700 jobs.

The Tanaiste has also called an urgent meeting with IDA Chief Executive Sean Dorgan.

They are bracing themselves for news of further job losses this week at Baltimore Technologies.

Ms Harney will be meeting the employees at 3pm this afternoon and announcing details of a taskforce being set up to find a replacement investor.

The Tanaiste said the firm's pull-out was no reflection on the Irish work force, instead she blamed the global downturn in the electronics industry.

Over 4,000 jobs have been lost this year in the Irish hi-tech sector.

However, the Tanaiste said the industry can survive the downturn.